The British Book Awards – aka The Nibbies – is a celebration of books and the people who make them, and this year’s winners include the Audio Book of the Year for Bunny vs Monkey by Jamie Smart, narrated by Ciaran Saward, joint winner with My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes.
Percival Everett, Asako Yuzuki, Stanley Tucci and Alexei Navalny were also named among the winners of The British Book Awards, revealed in a star-studded ceremony at the Grosvenor Hotel in London, on 12th May. Prizes were awarded across Fiction, Pageturner, Discover, Debut and Children’s, among others.
A special award for Social Impact in celebration of publisher Allen Lane was given to Kate Mosse, author and founder director of The Women’s Prize.
The British Book Awards champion the world of reading by showcasing the authors and illustrators who have stirred our hearts and awoken our minds, and the industry behind the scenes who bring them to readers
At its core, the Awards acknowledges the profound connection between the books, their makers and their audience. It highlights the creativity, passion and power that occur when an entire industry unites to connect readers to stories.
Politics, nature, romantasy and vampires were to the fore on the shortlists for The British Book Awards 2025, which, the organisers say, “showcase a thriving industry, in tune with what readers want and need in a time of change and renewal, as big names and new stars reflect and represent the world.”
In Children’s, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler were awarded the Nibbie for Children’s Illustrated for Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin. The panel praised the duo’s tale of a plucky penguin for its “celebration of conservation” and “effortless rhyming” narrative.
Rob Biddulph was named Illustrator of the Year, following sales of 2024’s I Follow the Fox marking his biggest picture-book sales ever and the paperback edition of Gigantic resulting in a 63% sales uplift on his previous second-format outing. Biddulph worked tirelessly in 2024 to bring the joy of reading and drawing into children’s lives, appearing at more than 36 events and continuing his #DrawWithRob video series that went viral during the pandemic.
With reading for pleasure under threat, last year Biddulph, visited 10 Downing Street in his capacity as a World Book Day illustrator and created the 100 Story Hotel exhibition, an interactive world of storytelling for children aged one to eight.
Book of the Year – Audiobook: Fiction went to Bunny vs Monkey by Jamie Smart, narrated by Ciaran Saward, joint winner with My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes.
Jamie Smart shared the crown in this category for Bolinda’s “breathtaking” audio adaptation of his anarchic comic book, Bunny vs Monkey. The iconic duo are brought to life by voiceover artist Ciaran Saward, who infuses his narration with all the energy and verve of Smart’s text.
The judges were blown away by the “effort, skill and detail” to transform Smart’s comic into an audiobook, declaring it a “fantastic” triumph of ingenuity. Bolinda collaborated closely with Smart to distil the essence of his comic panels into key sounds and phrases that would capture both the action and the characters’ personalities in audio format.
“The result is an immersive audio experience that successfully translates the joy and chaos of the print edition. Bolinda knew they had achieved something special and created an impressive social media campaign that promoted exclusive material recorded in the studio and excerpts of Saward’s narration.”
Other awards included The Library of the Year Award, revived after eight years away, which had a very worthy and inspiring recipient in Manchester Libraries.
It won for its multi-strand ‘Blue Peter Book Club Live’ programme (pictured above), which made superb use of the revered Blue Peter brand to bring children and families into contact with libraries and reading. The centrepiece was a ‘takeover’ at the city’s Central Library, which included live CBeebies Bedtime Stories, book readings and performances, chances to meet the show’s presenters and sessions with star authors from the Blue Peter Book Club.
Activity fanned out across the city via a Blue Peter Book Club Badge Trail that connected 13 libraries and other cultural spaces, and through Book Hunt events in open spaces. Another project helped thousands of children create ‘Reading Book Birds’ for a library installation.
The Overall Book of the Year was awarded to Patriot by Alexei Navalny, the posthumous memoir of the Russian opposition leader, which also won the Non-Fiction: Narrative Book of the Year, beating Boris Johnson, Gillian Anderson and Sir Chris Hoy.
The Fiction Book of the Year was this year awarded to Percival Everett for James, a reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Nibbies judges called James a “future classic”, a “gripping, stunning” and “beautifully executed” story. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 2024, Everett’s 24th novel is “full of wit and emotion”. When crowning James the winner, the panel of judges agreed that the story delivers “the message the world needs right now”.
Everett was also named as Author of the Year, with “the past 12 months cementing his position as one of the great literary novelists of our time”. Judges noted that James would “endure as a testament to the power of language, freedom and familial love”.
The Debut: Fiction prize was awarded to Asako Yuzuki for Butter, translated by Polly Barton. The judges found the story “evocative” and “wonderfully” executed; this, combined with the “phenomenal” campaign, made Butter the undisputed winner.
Alice O’Keeffe, books editor of The Bookseller and overall chair of the Books of the Year, said: “This year’s judges brought all their expertise and enthusiasm to the table when meeting to decide The British Book Awards winners of 2025. And what winners they are, from a bestselling Japanese novel in translation to genre-defining British fantasy, from historical fiction acclaimed as a modern classic to the bravest political memoir, all published with ambition and flair. We believe many of our chosen books will be read long into the future and are delighted to celebrate them tonight.”
Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of The British Book Awards, said: “The 35th year of these fabulous awards was the best yet, combining politics with pluralism, grit with hope, joy with defiance. 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.”
• British Book Awards Official Website
British Book Awards Winners
Links below are Affiliate Links to uk.bookshop.org
Book of the Year – Fiction
James by Percival Everett (Mantle)
Book of the Year – Debut Fiction
Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton (4th Estate)
Book of the Year – Crime & Thriller
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
Book of the Year – Pageturner
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi (HarperVoyager)
Book of the Year – Discover
poyums by Len Pennie (Canongate)
Book of the Year – Non-Fiction: Lifestyle & Illustrated
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci (Fig Tree)
Book of the Year – Non-Fiction: Narrative
Patriot by Alexei Navalny, translated by Arch Tait and Stephen Dalziel (The Bodley Head)
Book of the Year – Children’s Fiction
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney (Puffin)
The pressure is building for Greg Heffley, who discovers that when you mix heaps of family, a tiny beach house, and sweltering heat, it’s a recipe for disaster. Speaking of recipes – the secret ingredients behind Gramma’s famous meatballs have been closely guarded for years. Can Greg unpack all of his family’s mysteries before their vacation is over? Or will he just stir the pot?
Book of the Year – Children’s Non-Fiction
Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back by Isabella Tree, illustrated by Angela Harding (Macmillan Children’s Books)
A stunningly beautiful gift book written by Isabella Tree, which tells the story of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, illustrated in full colour with lino prints and watercolours by Angela Harding, photographs from Knepp, and easy in-garden activities to ‘re-wild’ your own spaces.
Knepp is now home to some of the rarest and most beautiful creatures in the UK, including nightingales, peregrine falcons, scarce chaser dragonflies, and purple emperor butterflies. When you walk out into the scrubland on an early spring morning the sound of birdsong is so loud it feels like it’s vibrating in your lungs. This is the story of Knepp, and a guide telling you how to bring wildlife back where you live.
Includes timelines, an in-depth look at rewilding, spotlight features about native animals including species that have returned and thrive – butterflies, bats, owls and beetles.
The book encourages you to slow down and observe the natural world around you, understand the connections between species and habitats, and the huge potential for life right on your doorstep.
Book of the Year – Children’s Illustrated
Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Alison Green Books)
Join a plucky little penguin on the journey of a lifetime, in this fabulous new picture book from superstar author and illustrator Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Jonty the little gentoo penguin longs to find his true home at the South Pole.
One night, he sneaks out of the zoo and sets off on an amazing adventure, all the way to Antarctica (with an accidental detour to the North Pole!)
Children will be cheering Jonty on as he finally finds his way, in this captivating story of bravery, friendship, and finding your place in the world.
Book of the Year – Audiobook: Fiction
Bunny vs Monkey by Jamie Smart, narrated by Ciaran Saward (Bolinda Audio) and My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes (Penguin Random House Audio) – joint winners (AmazonUK Affiliate Links)
Book of the Year – Audiobook: Non-Fiction
Sociopath by Patric Gagne (Bluebird)
• British Book Awards Official Website
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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