Waterstones Book of the Year

Last updated

The Waterstones Book of the Year, established in 2012, [1] is an annual award presented to a book published in the previous 12 months. Waterstones' booksellers nominate and vote to determine the winners and finalists for the prize.

Contents

Award winners receive "full and committed backing" from Waterstones both in-person and online. [2]

Recipients

Waterstones Book of the Year winners and finalists
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
2012 Russell Norman Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts)Won [1] [3]
Laurent Binet HHhH Shortlisted [4]
Artemis Cooper Patrick Leigh Fermor Shortlisted [4]
Simon Garfield On the MapShortlisted [4]
Robert Macfarlane The Old WaysShortlisted [4]
Hilary Mantel Bring Up the Bodies Shortlisted [4]
2013 John Williams Stoner Won [5] [1]
2014 Jessie Burton The Miniaturist Won [6] [7]
Laura Bates Everyday SexismShortlisted [8]
Richard Flanagan The Narrow Road to the Deep North Shortlisted [8]
Sabrina Ghayour Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & BeyondShortlisted [8]
Oliver Jeffers Once Upon an AlphabetShortlisted [8]
Marina Keegan The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays & StoriesShortlisted [8]
Helen Macdonald H Is for Hawk Shortlisted [8]
Thomas Piketty Capital in the Twenty-First Century Shortlisted [8]
2015 Coralie Bickford-Smith The Fox and the Star Won [9] [10]
Harper Lee Go Set a Watchman Shortlisted [11]
Elena Ferrante My Brilliant Friend Shortlisted [11]
Paula Hawkins The Girl on the Train Shortlisted [11]
James Rebanks The Shepherd's Life Shortlisted [11]
Matt Haig Reasons to Stay Alive Shortlisted [11]
Mary Beard SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Shortlisted [11]
Hanya Yanagihara A Little Life Shortlisted [11]
2016 Sarah Perry The Essex Serpent Won [12]
J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Shortlisted [13]
Emma Jane Kirby The Optician of LampedusaShortlisted [13]
Beatrix Potter with Quentin Blake (illus.) The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots Shortlisted [13]
Christopher de Hamel Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts Shortlisted [13]
Paul Kalanithi When Breath Becomes Air Shortlisted [13]
2017 Philip Pullman La Belle Sauvage: Book of Dust Volume OneWon [1] [14]
Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls Shortlisted [15]
George Saunders Lincoln in the Bardo Shortlisted [15]
Jenny Uglow Mr. LearShortlisted [15]
Yanis Varoufakis Talking to My Daughter About the EconomyShortlisted [15]
Frances Hardinge A Skinful of Shadows Shortlisted [15]
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris The Lost WordsShortlisted [15]
2018 Sally Rooney Normal People Won [1] [16] [17]
Isabel Hardman Why We Get the WrongPoliticiansShortlisted [1] [2] [16]
Dan Jones and Marina Amaral The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850-1960Shortlisted [1] [2] [16]
The Secret Barrister The Secret Barrister Shortlisted [1] [2] [16]
Dolly Alderton Everything I Know About Love Shortlisted [1] [2] [16]
Henry Eliot The Penguin Classics BookShortlisted [1] [2] [16]
Madeline Miller Circe Shortlisted [1] [2] [16]
Fiona Waters and Frann Preston-Gannon I Am the Seed that Grew the TreeShortlisted [1] [2] [16]
2019 Charlie Mackesy The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Won [18] [19]
Margaret Atwood The Testaments Shortlisted [20] [21]
Candice Carty-Williams Queenie Shortlisted [21]
Bridget Collins The BindingShortlisted [20] [21]
Robert Macfarlane Underland Shortlisted [21]
Max Porter Lanny Shortlisted [20] [21]
Greta Thunberg No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference Shortlisted [19] [21]
2020 Maggie O'Farrell Hamnet Won [22] [23] [24]
Dara McAnulty Diary of a Young Naturalist Shortlisted [25]
Brit Bennett The Vanishing Half Shortlisted [25]
Michiko Kakutani Ex LibrisShortlisted [25]
Gavin Francis Island DreamsShortlisted [25]
Philippe Sands The Ratline Shortlisted [25]
Craig Brown One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time Shortlisted [25]
Naoise Dolan Exciting Times Shortlisted [25]
Bolu Babalola Love in ColourShortlisted [25]
David Olusoga Black and British: A Short, Essential HistoryShortlisted [25]
Fiona Waters with Britta Teckentrup (illus.)Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!Shortlisted [25]
Rundell Katherine (ed)The Book of HopesShortlisted [25]
2021 Paul McCartney with Paul Muldoon (ed.) The Lyrics Won [26] [27]
Jonathan Drori with Lucille Clerc (illus.)Around the World in 80 PlantsShortlisted [28]
Janice Hallett The AppealShortlisted [28]
Kiran Millwood Hargrave with Tom de Freston (illus.)Julia and the SharkShortlisted [28]
Charlotte Higgins with Chris Ofili (illus.)Greek MythsShortlisted [28]
Kazuo Ishiguro Klara and the Sun Shortlisted [28]
Amy Jeffs StorylandShortlisted [28]
Caleb Azumah Nelson Open Water Shortlisted [28]
Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka You Are a Champion Shortlisted [28]
Jennifer Saint AriadneShortlisted [28]
Adam Silvera They Both Die at the End Shortlisted [28]
Colin Thubron Amur RiverShortlisted [28]
Tracey Turner and Andrew Donkin with Libby VanderPloeg (illus.)British Museum: History of the World in 25 CitiesShortlisted [28]
2022 Katy Hessel The Story of Art without MenWon [29]
Maggie O'Farrell The Marriage PortraitShortlisted [30]
Alice Oseman Heartstopper Volume 1Shortlisted [30]
Bonnie Garmus Lessons in ChemistryShortlisted [30]
Jonathan Freedland The Escape ArtistShortlisted [30]
Thomas Halliday Otherlands Shortlisted [30]
Katherine Rundell with Talya Baldwin (illus.)In the Golden MoleShortlisted [30]
Jeremy Lee CookingShortlisted [30]
R. F. Kuang BabelShortlisted [30]
A. F. Steadman Skandar and the Unicorn ThiefShortlisted [30]
2023 Katherine Rundell Impossible CreaturesWon [31]
Chris BroadAbroad in JapanShortlisted [32]
G. T. Karber MurdleShortlisted [32]
Rebecca F. Kuang Yellowface Shortlisted [32]
Ann Patchett Tom Lake Shortlisted [32]
Rick RubinThe Creative Act: A Way of BeingShortlisted [32]
Zadie Smith The Fraud Shortlisted [32]
Chris van Tulleken Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t...Shortlisted [32]
Alice Winn In MemoriamShortlisted [32]
Rebecca Yarros Fourth Wing Shortlisted [32]
Lou Peacock and Matt HuntA Whale of a Time: A Funny Poem for Every Day of the YearShortlisted [32]
Mary Beard Emperor of RomeShortlisted [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

The International Dublin Literary Award, established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely sponsored by Dublin City Council, Ireland. At €100,000, the award is one of the richest literary prizes in the world. If the winning book is a translation, the prize is divided between the writer and the translator, with the writer receiving €75,000 and the translator €25,000. The first award was made in 1996 to David Malouf for his English-language novel Remembering Babylon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baillie Gifford Prize</span> Non-fiction writing award

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its motto "All the best stories are true", the prize covers current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The competition is open to authors of any nationality whose work is published in the UK in English. The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year. Formerly named after English author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the award was renamed in 2015 after Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm and the primary sponsor. Since 2016, the annual dinner and awards ceremony has been sponsored by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.

The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are awarded each year: one each for a fiction and non-fiction book on politics, one for journalism and one for "Exposing Britain's Social Evils" ; between 2009 and 2012, a fifth prize was awarded for blogging. In each case, the winner is the short-listed entry which comes closest to George Orwell's own ambition to "make political writing into an art".

The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public. Prizes are given annually for two or three exceptional works published during the year, with an occasional oeuvre prize. They are awarded and administered by the Wolfson Foundation, with winning books being chosen by a panel of judges composed of eminent historians.

The Thurber Prize for American Humor, named after American humorist James Thurber, recognizes outstanding contributions in humor writing. The prize is given out by the Thurber House. It was first awarded irregularly, but since 2004 has been bestowed annually. In 2015, the finalists were for the first time, all women. Winners of the Thurber Prize have included authors from an array of diverse backgrounds, from The Daily Show hosts Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah to The New Yorker staff writers Calvin Trillin and Ian Frazier, as well as university professors Julie Schumacher and Harrison Scott Key.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie O'Farrell</span> Irish-British novelist, born 1972

Maggie O'Farrell, RSL, is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones 25 Authors for the Future. Her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yiyun Li</span> Chinese writer and professor

Yiyun Li is a Chinese-born writer and professor in the United States. Her short stories and novels have won several awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award and Guardian First Book Award for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, the 2020 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for Where Reasons End, and the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for The Book of Goose. She is an editor of the Brooklyn-based literary magazine A Public Space.

The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is therefore open only to authors who have published no more than two or three books, depending on which category they are in. The prize is awarded by British book retailer Waterstones.

The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010. At £25,000, it is one of the largest literary awards in the UK. The award was created by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, whose ancestors were closely linked to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, who is generally considered the originator of historical fiction with the novel Waverley in 1814.

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize is an annual award presented by the Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York City, for the best debut novel. From 2006 to 2011, it was called the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize in honor of John Turner Sargent, Sr.. From 2011 to 2014, it was known as the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, named for Center for Fiction board member Nancy Dunnan and her journalist father Ray W. Flaherty.

The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

Sara Baume is an Irish novelist. She was named on Granta magazine's "Best of Young British Novelists" list 2023.

The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner.

The Costa Book Award for First Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2006), was an annual literary award for authors' debut novels, part of the Costa Book Awards which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.

The Costa Book Award for Poetry, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2006), was an annual literary award for poetry collections, part of the Costa Book Awards. The award concluded in 2022.

<i>The Rabbit Hutch</i> 2022 novel by Tess Gunty

The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Farrant (author)</span> British childrens author

Natasha Farrant is a British children's author. In 2020, she won the Costa Book Award for Children's Book for Voyage of the Sparrowhawk.

Sophie Anderson is a Welsh author. Among other honours, her books have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal three times.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cain, Sian (29 November 2018). "Sally Rooney's Normal People named Waterstones book of the year". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Awards: Waterstones, Blackwell's Books of the Year Finalists". Shelf Awareness. 8 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Lisa (30 November 2012). "Polpo is Waterstones Book of the Year". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Awards: Waterstones Book of the Year & FutureBook Innovation". Shelf Awareness. 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  5. ↑ Furness, Hannah (3 December 2013). "Stoner wins Waterstones Book of the Year 2013". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Masters, Tim (1 December 2014). "Miniaturist novel named Waterstones book of 2014". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Awards: Waterstones; Guardian; NYT 100 Notable; Goodreads". Shelf Awareness. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Awards: Scotiabank Giller; FT-McKinsey Biz Book; Waterstones". Shelf Awareness. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Flood, Alison (30 November 2015). "Waterstones book of the year is Coralie Bickford-Smith's debut The Fox and the Star". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "Awards: Waterstones Book of the Year". Shelf Awareness. 2 December 2015. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Awards: Cervantes Winner; Waterstones Finalists". Shelf Awareness. 16 November 2015. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  12. ↑ "The Essex Serpent beats Harry Potter to win Waterstones book of the year". The Guardian. 30 November 2016. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Awards: Waterstones Book of the Year Finalists". Shelf Awareness. 11 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  14. ↑ "Waterstones Book of the Year 2017 Winner: La Belle Sauvage: Book of Dust Volume One". Waterstones. 30 November 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Awards: Ernest J. Gaines Winner; Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 10 November 2017. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Love story Normal People is Waterstones' book of the year". BBC News. 29 November 2018. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Awards: Waterstones Book of the Year". Shelf Awareness. 30 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  18. ↑ "Waterstones reveals its Books of the Year". Penguin. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  19. 1 2 "Awards: Waterstones Book & Author of the Year; RSL Giles St. Aubyn Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2 December 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  20. 1 2 3 "Waterstones Book of the Year 2019 Shortlist". Locus Online. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schaub, Michael. "Atwood, Thunberg Make Shortlist for Book of the Year". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  22. ↑ Flood, Alison (2 December 2020). "Maggie O'Farrell's 'wonderful' Hamnet declared Waterstones book of the year". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  23. ↑ "Waterstones Book of the Year: Hamnet". Shelf Awareness. 3 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  24. ↑ Schaub, Michael. "Hamnet Is Waterstones Book of the Year". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Awards: Waterstones Book of the Year, Toronto Book Shortlists". Shelf Awareness. 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  26. ↑ "McCartney wins Waterstones Book of the Year for 'The Lyrics'". Books+Publishing. 3 December 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "Waterstones Book of the Year: The Lyrics". Shelf Awareness. 2 December 2021. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Awards: Kirkus Winners; Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  29. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (1 December 2022). "Paint him out: Katy Hessel's retelling of art history is Waterstones book of the year". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 28 October 2022. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  31. ↑ Creamer, Ella (30 November 2023). "Katherine Rundell wins Waterstones book of 2023 with 'immediate classic'". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "2023 Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist". Locus Online . 2 November 2023. Archived from the original on 25 December 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.