Indie author Tim Westover has won the first-ever Selfies U.S. Book Award for The Winter Sisters, as announced during a virtual ceremony at the American Library Association’s annual conference on June 24.
The Selfies Book Awards were originally launched by BookBrunch in the UK in 2018, in collaboration with IngramSpark and the London Book Fair. The Selfies U.S. are sponsored by IngramSpark, Ingram’s -ebook and print self-publishing platform, and Combined Book Exhibit, and run in association with BookBrunch. Before announcing Westover’s win, the ceremony also honored the shortlisted authors for this year’s award: Athena’s Choice by Adam Boostrom; A Murder of Ravens by Paty Jager; The Lady’s Jewels by Perpetua Langley; and A Thread So Fine by Susan E. Welch.
Jo Henry, managing director of BookBrunch and a juror for the awards, called The Winter Sisters “a brilliantly realized depiction of the conflict between new scientific theories and traditional herbal remedies, set in a small 19th-century community under threat of rabies.”
Westover spoke about the challenges and merits of self-publishing and shared that the proceeds from the sales of The Winter Sisters are going to the Atlanta Children's Hospital Child Life Department. Additional coverage of Westover’s win will be featured in the BookLife Report email newsletter.
