The 2023 Selfies Book Awards, set up by BookBrunch in 2018 to recognize great indie publishing, will be announced in Author HQ at 4.45 p.m. today. Sponsored by IngramSpark, the awards are run in association with the London Book Fair and Nielsen BookData, and accept nominations in three categories, adult fiction, children’s books, and memoir/autobiography, with the successful author in each receiving £750.
Now in its fifth year, the adult fiction category is being judged by Carolyn Mays of Bedford Square Publishers, Jacks Thomas of BolognaBookPlus, and Chris White of Nielsen BookScan; while the judges for the third year of the memoir/autobiography category are freelance editor Ben Brock, publishing consultant Malcolm Edwards, and Ben Hughes of IngramSpark; and those for the children’s book category, now in its fourth year, are media consultant Helen McAleer, writer and journalist Nicolette Jones, and Sophie Gilligan from the London Book Fair.
In the adult fiction category, the shortlisted titles are:
- The Phone Call by A.J. Campbell
- Death in Paris by Kate Darroch
- The West Rises (High King: Book 1) by Susan Davies
- Small Eden by Jane Davis *2019 winner
- The Ring Breaker by Jean Gill
- The Maids of Biddenden by G.D. Harper
- The Secret Diary of a Bengali Newlywed by Halima Khatun *2021 winner
- The Secrets We Keep by A.J. Wills
In the children’s book category, the shortlist is:
- Searching for a Roarer by Kate Claxton *2021 winner
- The Adventurers and the Sea of Discovery by Jemma Hatt *2020 winner
- Bee’s Mission to Mars by Jonathan Horden
- Return to the Secret Lake by Karen Inglis
- Mystery in the Palace of Westminster by Sarah Lustig
- My Family Is So Scottish by Kirstin McNeil
- When I Grow Up by Rich Smith
- Tales of the Witch’s Cat: The Puppy Problem by Kristie Watson
The shortlist for the memoir/autobiography category includes six very different books:
- The Register by Moira Dennis
- A Dairy Story by Wilma Finlay
- No Place to Lie by Helen Garlick
- The Kew Sketch Journal by Charles Leon
- One for the Book, Son by Nick Terry
- Marching to a Different Beat: A Family’s Journey with Autism by Sarah Ziegel
