Nibbies judges revealed

Authors Adele Parks, Barney Norris and Kit de Waal will help to judge The British Book Awards 2018.

They will be joined by Edinburgh International Book Festival director Nick Barley, Bradford Literature Festival director Syima Aslam and book buyers Pete Selby from Sainsbury’s, Matt Bates from W H Smith Travel, Asda’s Phil Henderson, Tesco’s Karen Brindle and Blackwell’s head of publisher liaison Gareth Hardy.

The British Book Awards, also known as the "Nibbies", recognise the commercial successes of publishers, authors and bookshops and comprise a celebratory awards ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London; this year’s event will take place on Monday 14th May.

Hardy, Aslam and Barley will help to judge the trade awards along with writer and illustrator Sarah McIntyre, The Book People’s group buying and merchandising director Sarah Walden, and English PEN’s interim director Antonia Byatt.

Meanwhile, Parks, Norris and de Waal will help to judge the Books of the Year categories along with David Headley, m.d. of Goldsboro Books, independent producer Caroline Raphael and the trio behind podcast “Mostly Lit”, Rai, Alex Reads and Derek Owusu.

Books reviewers and journalists will also judge the awards, including Nina Pottell, Charlotte Heathcote (literary editor of the Daily Express and the Sunday Express) and Ali Karim (assistant editor of Shots eZine), and author/journalist Sabine Durrant.

Selby, head of books and music and Sainsbury’s; Bates, fiction buyer at W H Smith Travel; Henderson, buying manager for books at ASDA; and Brindle, book buyer for Tesco, will be part of the judging panel for the Books of the Year segment.

Nigel Roby, publisher and chief executive of The Bookseller, said: “The British Book Awards are unique in recognising that successful books are the result of an extended partnership that starts with the author or illustrator’s genius right through to the efforts of a local bookshop – and the range of our judges reflects this. Any title that wins a coveted Book of the Year at the Nibbies will have well and truly earned it.”

Last year Pan Macmillan was crowned Publisher of the Year, while Waterstones was given the Retailer of the Year award. Meanwhile, Sarah Perry’s novel The Essex Serpent (Serpent’s Tail) won The British Book Awards’ overall Book of the Year award.

Further information about the awards can be found here, where tickets for the event can also be purchased. Entries should be submitted by the 9th February.