Alice Oseman

Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper series was at the forefront of a record year for graphic novels in 2022. When named 151st on The Bookseller’s list of the most influential people in UK publishing—its de facto “Person of the Year” — in 2022, Oseman was billed as “Britain’s first truly global breakout children’s superstar in two decades”, with “Heartstopper Volume 1 the bestselling children’s book across Nielsen BookScan’s 11 international territories”.

This is not an overnight success. In 2016, aged just 22, Oseman began to post webcomics online. She had no formal art training and knew YA graphic novels were a tough sell, but felt passionately about the work and queer representation. Her subscribers multiplied and as the buzz increased she launched a Kickstarter edition in 2018, which hit its target in under two hours.

In 2019, Hachette Children’s Group published the first two volumes of Heartstopper to enormous commercial success. The illustrated form broke new ground in the YA fiction market, and ever since this LGBTQ+ love story has been at the cutting edge of the UK’s mass-market success in graphic novels. Oseman also had a huge creative input on the Netflix series of “Heartstopper”, won an Emmy in 2022 for Outstanding Writing, and is tireless in her support of booksellers. Congratulations to Alice Oseman, The British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year 2023.