It’s a kind of Murdle

Stories and the importance of words were to the fore at The British Book Awards 2024. Winners included Ebury (led by my former colleague Joel Rickett), Book-ish (from Wales) and Profile – a poignant moment for founder Andrew Franklin who handed the reins to m.d. Rebecca Gray part-way through the year and so stood back as Gray gave the acceptance speech – and authors and illustrators such as Katherine Rundell, Atinuke with Kingsley Nebechi, Rory Stewart, Jamie Smart and Rebecca F. Kuang.

As ever the moments of surprise and joy were what took the breath away, from Sanchita Basu De Sarkar (of the Children’s Bookshop, which won two awards, including Book Retailer) to Small Press winners Magic Cat founders Jenny Broom and Rachel Williams, to the author Greg Karber, whose book Murdle was named Book of the Year. Crime & Thriller and Audiobook Fiction victor Lisa Jewell, never before a winner, gave two heartfelt speeches, as did illustrator Jamie Smart, referencing the power of comics as well as his own origin story.

There were political moments, too. The Georgian-Russian author Boris Akunin – whose work is now banned in Russia and who was the recipient of the Freedom to Publish award – warned about creeping state suppression: a “frightened writer cannot be a good writer, ever”. Author of the Year Rundell spoke about getting books into children’s hands and what happens if we fail: “I worry that if we cut children off from books, we cut them off from a life of reading, which is to cut them off from the song that humanity has been singing for thousands of years. And the older I get the more really, really fucking angry I get about that.” Editor of the Year Kishani Widyaratna dedicated her award to “all our Palestinian colleagues”.

This is the book business, what we do resonates, and what we put out into the world is a serious concern

In my opener I referenced books from past years including 1984 – 75 years old – and The Gruffalo – now 25. George Orwell’s classic was a deliberate choice as a way in. Few anniversaries feel as relevant right now as the book business faces new challenges around censorship and wrong-think. Akunin is not the only author being silenced – he in his own country, others elsewhere, and some painfully close to home. “Democracy is fragile and it is often writers and artists who are the first to be attacked when autocracy overtakes,” said former prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe when she presented that award.

This is the books business, what we do resonates, and what we put out into the world is a serious concern. Reading for pleasure might be a joy, but it is also a mission and, as Rundell suggests, a very necessary one. As a business, and as a collective, we can lean into the celebratory, while acknowledging that we live within a wider context, however uncomfortable. As Jenny Broom wrote to me afterwards: “Bringing together the industry in the way that you do with the Nibbies is a yearly reminder of what sets publishing apart from many other industries: a collective desire to be a part of something that matters.” Now, that’s a kind of magic!