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Elif Shafak, Peter James and Julia Donaldson win at Nielsen Bestseller Awards
Elif Shafak, Peter James, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are among the winners of this year’s Nielsen Bestseller Awards.
The event returned in person to Ham Yard Hotel in central London this year, in partnership with BolognaBookPlus, with awards presented by comedian Shaparak Khorsandi. Nielsen said 199 million print books were bought in the UK in 2023, with a value of £1.83bn, with around seven in every 10 books purchased in print formats.
Based on UK sales volumes, the awards honoured authors whose books had surpassed sales thresholds — Silver (250,000 sales), Gold (500,000 sales), and Platinum (1,000,000 sales).
Four titles achieved Platinum status inducting them into the "21st century Hall of Fame", which now includes 157 titles. Richard Osman received his second Platinum award for The Bullet That Missed (Viking). Children’s book duo Donaldson and Scheffler achieved Platinum status for another of their titles, The Highway Rat (Alison Green Books).
Sally Rooney and Colleen Hoover both had titles simultaneously recognised in the Platinum and Gold categories – Rooney’s Normal People achieved Platinum status with Gold awards going to her first novel, Conversations with Friends and most recent book Beautiful World, Where Are You (all Faber), and Hoover’s hit It Ends with Us (Platinum, S&S UK) was honoured alongside It Starts With Us (Gold, S&S UK).
Two authors received Author Platinum Awards on the night, having sold over five million copies across all their titles: Susan Lewis who celebrated 50 bestselling novels in 2023, and Victoria Hislop, whose career has included The Island (Headline Review) which is already a Platinum Bestseller in its own right.
Miriam Margolyes’ This Much is True (John Murray) achieved Gold status, alongside novels from Kazuo Ishiguro, T M Logan, Sally Page and Miranda Crowley Heller.
Peter James received the highest number of awards, with four books achieving Silver status, alongside Dishoom’s Shamil Thakrar, Booker shortlistee Claire Keegan (for Small These Like These, Faber), Women’s Prize-shortlisted writer Elif Shafak (The Island of Missing Trees, Viking) and the UK’s number one Christmas author G T Karber for the murder mystery puzzle book Murdle (Souvenir Press).
Andre Breedt, managing director of Nielsen BookData, said: “We are thrilled to be able to host these awards once again in person and celebrate the success of authors and the teams that support them. My thanks to the BolognaBookPlus team for all their support helping us to re-establish this popular annual event. The Bestseller Awards are unique, recognising the achievement of any author across all genres by the ultimate measurement, book sales.”
Jacks Thomas, guest director, BolognaBookPlus, added: “So many authors’ careers are enhanced by the work done on their behalf by publishers and agents at book fairs, it is therefore both a treat and a privilege for BolognaBookPlus, the newest kid on the block in the general publishing book fair world, to see creative and commercial genius rewarded on a night like tonight. Nielsen BookData have shone a spotlight on the reading habits of the UK, creating an impressive Hall of Fame on the way!"
Platinum Winners
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (S&S UK)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber)
- The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (Viking)
- The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler (Alison Green Books)
Gold Winners
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber)
- Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber)
- It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover (S&S UK)
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber & Faber)
- The Holiday by T M Logan (Zaffre)
- The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page (One More Chapter)
- This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes (John Murray)
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller (Viking)
Silver Winners
- Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter (Macmillan)
- Dead at First Sight by Peter James (Macmillan)
- Dead if you Don’t by Peter James (Macmillan)
- Dishoom: The First Ever Cookbook from the Much-Loved Indian Restaurant by Shamil Thakrar (Bloomsbury)
- Find them Dead by Peter James (Macmillan)
- Left You Dead by Peter James (Macmillan)
- Murdle by G T Karber (Souvenir Press)
- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber)
- The Familiars by Stacey Halls (Zaffre)
- The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Viking)
Author Platinum Awards
- Susan Lewis
- Victoria Hislop
