Open Water

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open Water was a standout début in this category. It is a “story that needs to be told”, agreed the judges. At once a love story and an “honest” portrayal of the Black experience in south London, the début examines masculinity in a “beautiful, vulnerable” way. “It stole my heart”, commented one judge.

The panel was struck by Viking’s commitment to the book, acquired in a nine-way auction, published with a “striking” cover and marketed “brilliantly” in the February 2021 lockdown, with a pivot to an online events schedule bolstered by Nelson’s strong online following.

The judges were impressed by the publisher’s extensive online media campaign which targeted literary, artistic and Black audiences. The novel achieved “phenomenal” paperback sales and sold more than 13,000 hardbacks, excluding lockdown, through Nielsen’s TCM.