Dean, Bowen and Abdullah crowned winners at Diverse Book Awards

Benjamin Dean, Natasha Bowen and Kia Abdullah have been named winners of the Diverse Book Awards 2022, the annual prize celebrating outstanding inclusive books by authors and publishers based in the UK and Ireland. 

Dean’s Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow, which is illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat (Simon & Schuster), scooped the accolade of Children’s Diverse Book Award, with second place going to Hey You! An Empowering Celebration of Growing Up Black by Dapo Adeola and others (Puffin) and third to The Very Merry Murder Club, edited by Robin Stevens and Serena Patel (Farshore).

In the YA category, Skin of the Sea by Bowen (PRH Children’s) won top prize, followed by Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Usborne) and You’re the One That I Want by Simon James Green (Scholastic).

Taking the crown for the adult category was Abdullah’s Next of Kin (HQ), with second place going to His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie (Oneworld) and third to Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking Books)

The winners were announced in a ceremony at Waterstones Piccadilly in London on 20th October, hosted by the first YA category winner in 2020, Sue Cheung.

More than 110 submissions were entered into the prize, which was created by author Abiola Bello and publicist Helen Lewis.