At a ceremony hosted at Foyles’ iconic Charing Cross Road branch and hosted by Dr Punam Krishan, NHS GP, media medic and bestselling author, the winners of the tenth annual Readers Awards were revealed.
Since launching in 2016 under the Books Are My Bag campaign brand, the Readers Awards have celebrated the books that capture readers’ imaginations each year. Organised by the Booksellers Association (BA), with headline sponsor National Book Tokens, the awards have put bookshops and readers at their heart, with shortlists curated by booksellers and the winners chosen by readers themselves.
To mark the awards’ 10th anniversary, an expert panel of booksellers was invited to take on the almost impossible task of selecting the standout books from the last decade of the Readers Awards. Readers had the final say, voting to choose the ultimate winners across five categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult Fiction and Children’s Fiction. The Readers’ Choice Award was the only category to remain completely open, giving readers the opportunity to nominate any book they had read this year, regardless of its publication date.
Winners this year were –
Fiction: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Non-Fiction: This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
Young Adult Fiction: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Children’s Fiction: Impossible Creatures by Katharine Rundell
Poetry and Readers’ Choice Award: To the Women by Donna Ashworth
As the Readers Awards celebrate ten years of championing brilliant books, the booksellers who curate them and the readers who love them, this special retrospective provides a fitting finale to a decade of success.
Looking ahead to 2027, the Booksellers Association will build on the momentum of new activities and partnerships developed under its Books Are My Bag campaign brand during the National Year of Reading in 2026. These include collaborations with The Reading Agency and Picturehouse Cinemas, alongside the success of its Bookseller Stories social content strand. The Booksellers Association will continue to develop these initiatives while exploring new opportunities to celebrate bookshops and the vital role they play in connecting readers with books.
Emma Bradshaw, Head of Brand and Consumer Marketing at the Booksellers Association, said: “The tenth year of the Readers Awards has given us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the many extraordinary authors and their equally extraordinary books, and the vital role bookshops have played in putting those books into the hands of readers over the past decade. It’s truly been a fantastic ten years for the Readers Awards, and this special anniversary celebration feels like a fitting moment to bring that chapter to a close. We’re enormously proud of what the awards have achieved and excited to build on that legacy through the new partnerships and initiatives we’ve developed under Books Are My Bag during the National Year of Reading.”
2026 Judging Panel:
• Deborah Texeira, Children’s Bookseller and School Coordinator, Kenilworth Books
• Lisa Caldwell, Co-Owner of The Curious Cat Bookshop
• Alex Call, Owner of Bert’s Books
• Jonathan Reed, Fiction and Crime Range Manager, Waterstones
Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and winner for Fiction said: “I adore the Books Are My Bag awards. How meaningful to be given an award from a list curated by booksellers and voted on by readers! Booksellers and readers really are my bag.”
Adam Kay, author of This Is Going to Hurt and winner for Non-Fiction said: “I’m not sure what’s more surreal: that people are still reading and talking about This is Going to Hurt a decade later, or that I beat actual Michelle Obama to a prize. Either way, I owe it to the brilliant booksellers who have championed my writing from the start, and the extraordinary NHS staff it celebrates. Soz, Michelle”
Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give and winner for Young Adult Fiction said: “I am honored to win this award. Thank you to the booksellers who shortlisted The Hate U Give and continue to champion it, especially as 2027 marks 10 years since it first published. The Hate U Give was relevant in 2015 when I first wrote it as a short story and unfortunately remains relevant today. I want to thank longtime readers and new ones, who will enter Garden Heights and meet Starr for the first time. Each of you will hopefully create a future where the injustices in The Hate U Give no longer feel paramount.”
Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures and winner for Children’s Fiction said: “It’s such a thrill and an honour to have won the children’s Books Are My Bag award, which is a magnificent prize: the fact that it is chosen by booksellers and voted for by the public means a great deal. I’m so grateful to everyone who voted for the book – what a huge delight!”
Donna Ashworth, author of To the Women and winner for Poetry and Readers Choice said: “Delighted is not an emotive enough word to convey my joy for ‘To The Women’ winning this reader-voted award! I set out to touch hearts and spread hope and having that come back to me in this form is like a full- circle, collective hug. It is no small thing for me in this lifetime and I am truly grateful. Thank you all!”
Alongside headline sponsor National Book Tokens, the Readers Awards are sponsored by Bloomsbury, Bonnier Books UK, Canongate, David Fickling, DK, Faber & Faber, Hachette UK, HarperCollins Publishers, Little Tiger, Ingram Content Group, Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House UK, Profile Books, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Usborne and Walker Books.
Books Are My Bag is the Booksellers Association’s year-round campaign brand, celebrating bookshops of all shapes and sizes and the unique value they bring to communities both locally and nationally. Alongside new partnerships and activities, it continues to champion bookshops through established initiatives including Independent Bookshop Week, Bookshop Day, the Indie Book Awards and Indie Book of the Month.
