Bestselling writers Freida McFadden, AF Steadman, Charlie Mackesy and Ruth Jones have all received multiple nominations for The British Book Awards 2026, affectionately known as The Nibbies, while titles from Sarah Wynn-Williams and Andrew Lownie are recognised in both Non-Fiction: Narrative and Audiobook: Non-Fiction.
The British Book Awards is also teaming up with the BBC Radio 2 Book Club for a new prize, announced live at the Grosvenor House ceremony.
Highlighting the power of books to amplify silenced voices and bring abuses of power to the fore, Wynn-Williams’ exposé of Facebook Careless People (Macmillan) and Lownie’s biography of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson Entitled (William Collins) is joined by Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s powerful posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl (Doubleday) on the Non-Fiction: Narrative shortlist. Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me (Hamish Hamilton) also features on the list.
Women’s Prize-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count (4th Estate), Lily King’s Heart the Lover (Canongate) and Uketsu’s Strange Pictures (Pushkin) are nominated in Fiction. Meanwhile, lauded titles from Nussaibah Younis, Lucy Steeds, Florence Knapp and Garrett Carr will vie for the hotly contested Debut Fiction prize.
YA shines in Children’s Fiction, with titles by Lauren Roberts, Suzanne Collins and SF Williamson shortlisted. In Children’s Non-Fiction & Illustrated, author-illustrator team Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s latest, Oh Dear, Look What I Got! (Walker Books), is nominated alongside titles from Ingela P Arrhenius and Tom Percival, both of whom are also recognised on the Illustrator of the Year shortlist.
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This year also sees the introduction of three new genre categories – Science Fiction & Fantasy, Romantic Fiction and Graphic Novel – reflecting the evolving reading habits of the UK during the National Year of Reading. Two-time Nibbie winner RF Kuang is among those recognised by the new awards, alongside Rebecca Yarros, SenLinYu, Emily Henry, Laurie Gilmore and Dav Pilkey.
Academy Award-winning author and illustrator Mackesy is shortlisted for the coveted Author of the Year award alongside Slow Horses creator Mick Herron, international bestseller Elif Shafak, fantasy sensation Steadman, Gavin and Stacey’s Jones and 2025 chart-topper McFadden. 2025 shortlistee Pilkey will be facing competition from Emily Gravett and Huw Aaron for the Illustrator of the Year prize this year.
A slew of national treasures and household names will also go head-to-head for this year’s Book of the Year gongs, including Bob Mortimer, Kathy Burke, Jamie Oliver, Philip Pullman, Elizabeth Day, Richard Osman and Dan Brown.
The full list of shortlistees can be read on The British Book Awards website.
Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of the judges at The British Book Awards, said: “Reflecting readers’ choices, publishing expertise, bookselling passion and creative excellence, these shortlists show the power of books to change lives, shape history and inform the future.
“It was a particularly strong year for debut fiction, narrative non-fiction, graphic novels and fantasy, but also – following the loss of beloved authors Jilly Cooper, Sophie Kinsella and Joanna Trollope – I am especially delighted by the range and vitality of the titles on our first ever Romantic Fiction shortlist. Congratulations to all of the writers and illustrators, and those who found readers for their work. In the National Year of Reading, well published words that sold well matter more than ever.”
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The BBC Radio 2 Book Club Award winner will be selected from last year’s Radio 2 Book Club choices, and will be judged by a panel of librarians. BBC Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox said: “I’m chuffed to bits to be launching the Radio 2 Book Club Award. As an author myself, I know how important The British Book Awards are to the whole industry – so to have our own award as part of the night feels very special. We feature so many brilliant books on the podcast, so I hope this recognition will help them find new readers.”
The British Book Awards is a proud supporter of the National Year of Reading’s Go All In campaign and the Nibbies will celebrate the unique industry-wide collaboration and continue to champion the books readers have loved, encompassing the broadest constituency of readers across genres, passions and formats in the shortlists this year.
Alice O’Keeffe, head of books for The Bookseller and overall chair of the Books of the Year, said: “From fresh new voices to big brand authors, this year’s shortlists celebrate the best books published in 2025. For the very first time, our judges are looking forward to discussing three new categories: Romantic Fiction, Graphic Novels and Science Fiction & Fantasy.
“In an exceptional year for Non-Fiction Narrative submissions, half the shortlist is made up of books that broke out of the books pages to lead the news agenda, a reminder that these books really matter.”
The Book of the Year winners will be decided by separate panels, with judges including Oti Mabuse, Prue Leith, Dr Ranj, Yulia Navalnaya, Ardal O’Hanlon, Janet Ellis and Abir Mukherjee. This year’s winners will be unveiled at a ceremony taking place at Grosvenor House, London on Monday 11th May 2026.
Join the conversation by following The British Book Awards on Instagram, and The Bookseller on X/Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag: #BritishBookAwards.