The 2024 British Book Awards, administered by The Bookseller magazine, announced its winners across various industry categories at a ceremony held on May 13 in London that drew 1,000 people. Nonfiction publisher Ebury was named Publisher of the Year, while Profile received the award for Independent Publisher of the Year. Profile's Murdle by G.T. Karber took home Overall Book of the Year honors. Russian-Georgian author Boris Akunin was given the new Freedom to Publish award in support of his criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has led to his books being banned in Russian and his being forced into exile.
Fourth Estate's Kishani Widyaratna took home the award for Editor of the Year, praised for bringing her imprint up to date with such authors as Yomi Adegoke, author of The List, and Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually. HarperCollins won Marketing Strategy of the Year for their work on Rebecca F. Kaung's Yellowface, which also won the Fiction Book of the Year. Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing won the Pageturner of the Year.
The Literary Agent category had joint winners, with Curtis Brown's Norah Perkins and Becky Brown recognized for their work on literary estates. Small Press of the Year went to Magic Cat Publishing, while Imprint of the Year was awarded to Little, Brown's Piatkus for its commitment to genre fiction and innovative sales and marketing strategies.
Bloomsbury Children's Books, winner of the Children's Publisher of the Year, also took the British Book Award for Export, driven by the success of authors such as T. C. Boyle, Sarah J. Maas, and J. K. Rowling. Welsh store Book-ish was crowned Independent Bookshop of the Year for the second time, while Amanda Dunne Fulmer of Halfway up the Stairs in County Wicklow, Ireland was named Individual Bookseller of the Year.
The Children's Bookshop in Muswell Hill, north London, became the first indie in more than a decade to win the Book Retailer of the Year award.
Freelance designer Jack Smyth was awarded Designer of the Year for his work on the Booker-winning Prophet Song (Oneworld), Henry Dimbleby's Ravenous (Profile), and Pushkin Press' Japanese novellas collection.
Earlier, nine independent bookshops from across the UK and Ireland were named regional and country winners for the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award, sponsored by book wholesaler Gardners. These winners were selected for their outstanding support of local communities through creative, specialist, and community-centered activities.
The nine regional and country winners were:
- East England: Kett's Books, Wymondham
- Island of Ireland: The Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus
- London: Brick Lane Bookshop, Tower Hamlets
- Midlands: The Poetry Pharmacy, Bishop's Castle
- North England: Wave of Nostalgia, Haworth
- Scotland: The Book Nook, Stewarton
- South-East England: Pigeon Books, Southsea
- South-West England: FOLDE Dorset, Shaftesbury
- Wales: Book-ish, Crickhowell
