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Kuang, Brady and Rundell compete for Indie Champion Awards
Rebecca F Kuang, Fern Brady and Katherine Rundell are among the authors shortlisted for Bookshop.org’s Indie Champions Awards, alongside publishers including Bloomsbury and Canongate and organisations such as The Jhalak Prize.
The awards honour individuals and organisations that have supported independent bookshops the most using Bookshop.org in 2023.
New to this year, the Indie Champions Awards include a content creator category, spotlighting social media influencers that have “linked to Bookshop.org, shared their love and support for the indies and created captivating book lists on the website”.
Winners across all 11 categories, including the Indie Champion Title of the Year and Indie Champion List of the Year, referring to the title and list that generated the most money for indies in 2023 respectively, will be unveiled virtually on Tuesday 23rd January 2024.
In the fiction category Kuang’s Yellowface (The Borough Press) is up against Lydia Davis’ Our Strangers (Canongate), Natalie Haynes’ Divine Might (Picador), Women’s Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead (Faber), Benjamin Myers’ Cuddy (Bloomsbury Circus) and Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Chatto & Windus).
Non-Fiction sees Brady’s Strong Female Character (Brazen) battle it out against Stu Hennigan’s Ghost Signs (Bluemoose), Mikaela Loach’s It’s Not That Radical (DK), Megan McCubbin’s An Atlas of Endangered Species (Two Roads), Annabel Sowemimo’s Divided (Wellcome Collection) and Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People (Cornerstone).
Rundell’s Impossible Creatures (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) is in contention for the children’s award, up against Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s The Wonder Brothers (Macmillan Children’s Books), Natasha Farrant’s The Rescue of Ravenwood (Faber), Tim Harford’s The Truth Detective (Wren & Hook), Sathnam Sanghera’s Stolen History (Puffin) and Louie Stowell’s Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good (Walker).
The lifestyle and culture category sees Gelf Alderson’s River Cottage Great Roasts (Bloomsbury) face Cold War Steve’s satirical annual (Constable), Katherine May’s Wintering (Rider), Anthony Penrose’s Lee Miller: Photographs (Thames & Hudson), Alice Vincent’s Why Women Grow (Canongate) and Bee Wilson’s The Secret of Cooking (Fourth Estate).
The publisher categories reward “notable efforts from publisher professionals” such as “bringing a distinct offer to Bookshop.org within wider marketing activities; first-class support covering sales, marketing and publicity; coming up with new ideas to make the most of Bookshop.org; championing the platform with their colleagues publishing house; and helping Bookshop.org reach new audiences.”
The overall publisher award is contested between Bloomsbury, Canongate, DK, Fitzcarraldo Editions, Sort of Books and Thames & Hudson. Publisher Professional of the Year sees Sasha Cox, head of UK sales at Canongate against Richard Green, independent bookshop and wholesaler manager at Pan Macmillan and Raynell Macdonald, marketing manager at Thames & Hudson. Julian Mash, UK sales head of special interest at Bloomsbury is also up for the award alongside Alison Pearce, key account manager at Penguin Random House and Eleanor Slater, trade marketing manager at HarperCollins.
Backlisted, Bookwandering, Literary Friction, Prompted by Nature and Service95 are shortlisted for the podcast award, while BooksForTopics, Canongate, Hay Festival, The Jhalak Prize, The Booker Prizes and the Women’s Prize for Fiction are shortlisted for the innovative use of Bookshop.org award.
The new content creator award sees Amina, aminasbookshelf (Instagram) battle against Eric Karl Anderson, The Lonesome Reader; EricKarlAnderson (YouTube); Fran, FranMcBookFace (X); Jenn Li, bookmarkonthewall (Instagram); Jules Swain, The Reading Paramedic, thereadingpara (X); Nicci, The Kids Books Curator, the.kids.books.curator (Instagram); Nicola Bowman, nic_thebookworm (Instagram); Sarah and Lou, whatsarahandlouread (Instagram); and Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher, MrEPrimary (X).
Nicole Vanderbilt, managing director of Bookshop.org UK, said: “What a joy it is to shout about the individuals and organisations that have championed independent booksellers the most this year. For our team, it’s empowering to know that a lot of people share our passion for independent bookshops, and our mission to support them and ensure they thrive as a key component of the publishing ecosystem. We’re especially excited to launch our new content creator category this year, cementing our increased work with social media platforms and influencers and acknowledging their potential to expand the reach of indie bookshops even further. Huge congratulations to all the shortlistees, and we hope the brilliant work of the Indie Champions inspired even more people to become champions of independent bookshops themselves!”
