Dawson and Boakye shortlisted for ALCS Educational Writers Award

The Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Society of Authors (SoA) have revealed the 2022 Educational Writers Award shortlist, for books aimed at readers aged 11–18. 

On this years shortlist are Jeffrey Boakye’s Musical Truth (Faber), an illustrated history of Black British music; Juno Dawson’s What’s The T (Wren & Rook), described as a guide to all things trans and/or non binary for young people; and Jake Hall’s The Art of Drag (Nobrow), which delves into the history of drag from Ancient Greece to Ru Paul.  

Also featured on this year’s shortlist are three titles from Scholastic including Jack Fairweather’s A Rebel in Auschwitz, a young reader’s edition of Fairweather’s Costa Book of the Year, which tells the true story of a Resistance hero who fought the Nazis from inside the death camp. It is joined by Stuart Lawrence’s Silence is not a Option, which judges described as a “thoughtful guide to growing up” from Stephen Lawrence’s younger brother; and The Place for Me, a collection of 12 stories about the Windrush generation by authors including Ashley Hickson-Lovence and Katy Massey. 

Now in its 15th year, the Educational Writers’ Award 2022 focuses on books for 11-18-year-olds published in 2020 and 2021. This year’s judges are children’s author Sita Brahmachari, secondary school teacher Sean Chuhan and school librarian Melissa Craig. 

The winner will be announced at a reception at Goldsmiths’ Centre in London on 22nd February. The winning author and illustrator/designer will share a cheque for £2,000.