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Yellowface named Amazon's Best Book of the Year
Amazon Books has announced Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang (The Borough Press) as the first-ever winner of its Best Book of the Year award in the UK. Amazon is running a range of activity online around the Best Book of the Year announcement, including banner ads, newsletter outreach and a story on the About Amazon blog.
The winning book is described as a dark satire on the publishing industry and the public discourse around Asian American representation. It was selected from a range of shortlisted fiction and non-fiction, including The List by Yomi Adegoke (HarperCollins Publishers), The Fraud by Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton) and Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken (Cornerstone Press).
This is the first time Amazon Books has chosen their Best Book of the Year in the UK, but it follows in the footsteps of the award in the US, which has been running since 2000. The Amazon Books editorial team selected the shortlist and the winner from books published in 2023, representing a "diverse range of genres and authors". Readers also played a role in informing the decision, with Amazon charts data and customer review ratings being a criteria.
Kuang commented: “It’s an honour to have Yellowface chosen as Amazon UK’s Best Book of the Year. I loved shaping these characters within a plot which takes so much inspiration from the book world and the author experience, of which entertaining readers is always the ultimate goal. I want to thank the readers who have been the greatest advocates for Yellowface.”
Darren Hardy, head of UK Books Editorial, said about their selection: “We were completely won over by Yellowface – the acidly satirical voice, the compelling plotline – beneath the unmissable yellow cover lies an intense page-turner that sparked discussion and captured our imagination.
"With brilliantly original narration and a tautly realised plot, this book packs a pacy punch while leaving the reader questioning the topical underlying themes. Kuang explores the weighty concepts of literary originality, cultural appropriation, the dark side of social media and cancel culture with finesse.”
In addition to the overall winner, Amazon Books selected shortlists for best fiction, best non-fiction and best Young Adult or children’s book. According to the publisher, notable fiction mentions include Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series (Hachette) and Emilia Hart’s debut novel, Weyward (The Borough Press) and the Oscar’s Book Prize-winning The Boy with Flowers in His Hair by Jarvis (Walker Books). A range of non-fiction titles were also highlighted in the shortlists, including a biography of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson and The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life by Steven Bartlett (Penguin Random House).
Amazon also recently awarded its annual Kindle Storyteller Award to Forsaken Commander by G J Ogden, recognising it as the best self-published book of the year.
