Latest news with #TheBritishBookAwards
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Scotsman
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Len Pennie: Poet who posted daily Scots word videos during Covid wins top literary award
Scots poet Len Pennie has won a major literary award. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A book of poetry by a writer who shot to fame during the Covid pandemic with her daily videos of Scots words has scooped a top literary prize. Len Pennie's work, Poyums, which is now a Scottish Qualifications Authority set text and is written in English and Scots, has been named Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. It is the first time in ten years that a poetry book has won an award known in the industry as the 'Nibbies'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Pennie, who has since published a second volume of poetry, Poyums Annaw, is published by Canongate Books. The award spotlights authors in underrepresented genres. Scottish children's author Julia Donaldson meanwhile won this year's Children's Illustrated book award with long-time illustration partner Axel Scheffler, for their book Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin. Repeat shortlistees and previous winners in 2020, Donaldson and Scheffler's best-selling story of a penguin on the journey of a lifetime was their highest value picture book since 2004. Overall Book of the Year 2025 was awarded to Patriot by Alexei Navalny, the posthumous memoir of the Russian opposition leader. His wife, Yuliya Navalny, who is to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer, beat Boris Johnson, Gillian Anderson and Sir Chris Hoy in winning the award. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Len Pennie is the first poet to win a prize at the British Book Awards in ten years. | Book Awards Other winners include Percival Everett, who won Author of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year for his 24th novel James, on a shortlist that featured David Nicholls, Sally Rooney, Colm Tóibín and Jacqueline Wilson. Philip Jones, chair of The British Book Awards, said: 'The 35th year of these fabulous awards was the best yet, combining politics with pluralism, joy with hope. Our winners - among them Percival Everett, Kate Mosse, Rob Biddulph, Julia Donaldson, Waterstones, and Bloomsbury - speak to the great strengths of this trade. 'Excellence, fortitude. Imagination. Defiance. Longevity. Ingenuity. This is a business that stands for reading and its value to society. And for three decades now The British Book Awards has stood with it. The challenges we face - from artificial intelligence to authoritarianism - are growing, but we are many and we will not be moved from this purpose.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Kate Mosse, writer and founder of the Women's Prize, was awarded The British Book Award for Social Impact in celebration of Allen Lane, sponsored by Penguin Random House. The new award is inspired by Mr Lane and his mission to widen access to books and democratise reading. Rebecca Sinclair, chief brand officer at Penguin Random House UK, said: 'This is a special year, as we celebrate 90 years since Penguin's founder Allen Lane changed reading with his launch of the first ten Penguin paperbacks. His transformative – some thought outlandish – idea was to provide quality literature at an affordable price. Widening access to books, in all forms and formats, is as relevant today as it was back in 1935.
BBC News
21-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Three Devon libraries shortlisted for Library of Year title
Three Devon libraries are in the running for the British Book Awards Library of the Year Library, Braunton Library and Exeter Library are all 2025 South West finalists - along with the Guille-Allès Library in awards "celebrate reading initiatives in which libraries collaborate with local publishers, partners and businesses; build inspiring community hubs; and place reading at the heart of everything they do".One winner from each region will be announced on 12 March, with the overall prize announced at The British Book Awards ceremony on 12 May.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exeter Library on shortlist to be crowned South West's best
Exeter Library has been shortlisted as the Best Library in the South West in the final of the British Book Awards 2025. The library will be up against Bideford Library and Braunton Library for the award. The regional and country winners of the Library of the Year award will be announced on Wednesday March 12, whilst the overall winner will be revealed during The British Book Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House London on Monday May 12. The National Book Awards aim to recognise libraries for their ingenuity in the face of increasing pressures. The British Book Awards 2025 Library of the Year Award, sponsored by publisher DK and run in association with the Reading Agency, celebrates libraries that serve their readers and implement initiatives which reach deep into communities, improving the lives of individuals through storytelling and literature. Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of the judges for The British Book Awards, said: 'I am absolutely delighted by the number, strength and depth of the entries in the first year we have taken a regional approach to The Library of the Year award. "These are libraries busting a gut to put reading at the heart of what they do, and, as a consequence, improve the lives of their patrons. Focused on local people in everyday locations, highlighting the innovative work done in 2024 is vital and a real pleasure.' Karen Napier MBE, and CEO The Reading Agency said: 'The exceptional entries to this year's Library of the Year award demonstrate the vital role that public libraries play in our communities. "What particularly stands out is how these libraries have become true community hubs by working so collaboratively with local partners. "These finalists represent the very best of what modern libraries can achieve, proving that libraries remain essential, dynamic spaces of learning, creativity, and community engagement, with reading at their heart.'
