Author of the Year
Author of the Year
Proudly sponsored by Montegrappa
Supported by Magic Classical
For the first time in the history of The British Book Awards, a shortlist has been announced for the Author of the Year and Illustrator of the Year accolades. It is a rare honour to receive such an award – past winners include the then Prince of Wales King Charles III, Hilary Mantel, Bernardine Evaristo, Bonnie Garmus and Katherine Rundell. Only two authors – Philip Pullman and Mantel – have won it twice, but David Nicholls could repeat the feat, having first won it in 2014.
The Shortlist
AF Steadman
No other author is more hardworking, more dedicated to their fans, more passionate about creating new readers, said AF Steadman's publisher Simon & Schuster. In 2024 she ramped things up with two new volumes in the Skandar series – Chaos Trials and Skeleton Curse – and signed 16,000 books across four full days at the printer, as well as thousands more at events across the country. "In 2024 I used every moment to maximise my impact as an author. And I would do it all again in a heartbeat to spread the joy of reading," said Steadman. Only Steadman and David Walliams had two titles in the top ten children’s fiction hardbacks published in 2024, with growth in every format.
David Nicholls
His publisher set out to make 2024 the year of David Nicholls. But it was never a given. His last publication – 2019’s Sweet Sorrow – had recorded his lowest sales in a decade and his team had the daunting task of bringing him back to the top of the charts, as the iconic author that he is. A Netflix adaption of One Day, a campaign to mark 20 years since the publication of his first novel, Starter for Ten, a new book You Are Here, and more than 50 events brought him back to the fore and cemented his place as "a national treasure" for his publisher Sceptre. Nicholls is the only author on the shortlist to have won this award before.
Lynda La Plante
Now in her eighth decade, 2024 was an unprecedented year for Lynda La Plante. Backed by her publisher Bonnier Books UK, she achieved huge sales across frontlist and backlist, major awards recognition, an unmissable year-round marketing and PR campaign, a final farewell to one of the most iconic characters in British crime fiction, Detective Jane Tennison, and a tell-all memoir. A combination of smart positioning and backlist amplification led to sales of £1.6m through Nielsen, and the awarding of the most prestigious Dagger of all, the Diamond Dagger, as nominated by members of the Crime Writers’ Association.
Percival Everett
A standout year for the US writer Percival Everett began with an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for American Fiction, the film adaption of his 2001 novel Erasure. His new novel James earned him his first UK bestseller and his second Booker Prize shortlisting. Eight of his backlist titles, including The Trees and Dr No, were published simultaneously by Picador. Everett flew over from the US for his first-ever UK book tour, taking in London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Oxford; this included sell-out events with independent and Black-owned bookshops (Storysmith Books and Sevenoaks Bookshop), local libraries (Brixton) and literary festivals (Manchester and Oxford). In return, James outperformed expectations by nearly 100%.
Sarah J Maas
From the very beginning, Sarah J Maas' books have sat at the centre of a Venn diagram, where fantasy and romance intersect. Over the past 12 years she has exploded the Venn diagram – creating a whole new genre, making opportunities for other authors following in her wake and retaining and sustaining her audience while attracting legions of new fans with every new book, all smartly orchestrated by her long-term publisher Bloomsbury. In the 2024 UK TCM, Maas was the bestselling adult author by value, at £12.2m. Overall she was the second-bestselling author by value, pipped only by Julia Donaldson. Her latest book, House of Flame and Shadow, is shortlisted for the Pageturner award.
Sophie Kinsella
Charts stalwart Sophie Kinsella had one of the bestselling years of her career in 2024, a career which has spanned 30 years. In April, she revealed she had been diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and was undergoing treatment to prolong her life. She published two books during the year with Transworld: the paperback of The Burnout, which was a Sunday Times number one bestseller, and the hardback of her novella, What Does It Feel Like?, an autobiographical account of her cancer journey told with wit and warmth. It was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and published to global critical acclaim.
