Selina Brown, And Other Stories and Springer Nature shortlisted at FutureBook awards

The shortlists for this year’s FutureBook Awards have been announced with 19 selected people and projects, including Springer Nature’s first book created using generative AI, And Other Stories’ new series design and Orion’s debut writers academy to demystify the publishing process.  

The awards will be presented at the end of FutureBook 2023, The Bookseller’s annual publishing conference, which will take place this year on 27th November in London and online. Across the categories, Hachette UK division Orion has the most entries, at three, followed by Pan Macmillan on two.  

There is also a shortlisting for The Black British Book Festival’s c.e.o. and founder Selina Brown, HarperFiction’s initiative to reach university students during fresher’s week, Penguin Random House’s Lit in Colour: Pioneers Programme in partnership with exam board Pearson Edexcel to get diverse set texts into over 200 schools and Hachette’s Changing the Story Freelancer Training Programme to boost accessibility and representation in publishing’s freelance workforce.  

The awards are split across four hotly contested categories: Future Leader of the Year, Leader of the Year, Start Up of the Year and FutureBook Excellence Award.  

Molly Flatt, The Bookseller’s comment editor and FutureBook programmer, said: “Yes, there’s a lot wrong in the publishing industry right now. But there’s also a lot that’s really very right. We’re great at calling out the crises; less good at taking a moment to celebrate all the hard, quiet, purpose-driven work out there that’s driving truly positive change.  

“That’s why we’re delighted to reveal the shortlists for this year’s FutureBook Awards: 19 people and projects that demonstrate some of the most innovative and impactful progress being made in the trade. Of course, they’re not the only stars, and we’d like to extend a huge thank you to all the individuals and teams who submitted entries – they made for inspiring reading, and some very tricky decisions. And when it comes to strengthening and diversifying the industry, a win for one of us is a win for us all.” 

Last year’s winners included creative development agency Storymix, the campaign for Menopausing by Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter (HQ), and teams from 404 Ink and Orion.  

The conference, now in its 13th year, is themed around AI. The full programme can be viewed here, with tickets available here.  

Group, freelance, small press and bookshop rates are available. Please email paul.clifton@thebookseller.com for more details.   

Sponsors this year include Audible, Ingram Content Group, Midas PR, Nielsen BookData, Shimmr, W F Howes and Zebralution.  

The shortlists in full

Future Leader of the Year, sponsored by Ingram Content Group

• Andy Joannou (Head of audience development at Pan Macmillan)
• Katie Packer (Editorial director at Trapeze, Orion) 
• Emma Quick (Head of marketing at Bonnier Children’s Trade Books)  
• Srishti Kadu (Procurement controller at Taylor & Francis)  
• Micaela Alcaino (Freelance designer and illustrator)  

Leader of the Year 

• Polly Osborn (Publishing strategy and communications director, Simon & Schuster)  
• Jenny Lord (Executive publisher, W&N and Orion Literary)  
• Lara Borlenghi (C.f.o., Pan Macmillan)  
• Selina Brown (Founder and c.e.o. of The Black British Book Festival)  

Start-up of the Year

• Sounded.com
• Narrative Muse 
• Immer 
• Footnote Press 
   

FutureBook Excellence Award

• GPT: Write me an academic book (Springer Nature)  
• HarperFiction’s Industry-First Student Activation 
• Lit in Colour: Pioneers programme (PRH) 
• Changing the Story Freelancer Training Programme (Hachette UK)  
• Debut Writers’ Academy (Orion)  
• And Other Stories’ new series design