More than 150 people gathered at a private, invite-only event to discover the winners of The Diverse Book Awards 2025, sponsored by Akan Books on Thursday 9th October 2025.
The party, held at Waterstones Piccadilly in London, saw publishers, authors, illustrators and literary agents from across the UK come together to celebrate the winning diverse books.
As the sixth Diverse Book Awards winners are now officially known, the longlist, shortlist and winner lists will become essential reading on a national level, highlighting the outstanding diverse and inclusive books, published by authors based in the UK and Ireland.
Guests enjoyed delicious Hummingbird birthday cake, rum punch, and delicious canapes. Held in the biggest bookshop in Europe; the music and positive, celebratory atmosphere was more like a party than a publishing event to celebrate what Waterstones has called “One of the UK’s leading book prizes”.
Abiola Bello, co-founder of The DBAs: “Celebrating with everyone is one of my favourite nights of the year and I’m so proud of everyone who was longlisted, and that they got the chance to win the Readers’ Choice Award that is voted for by the public. All the books in this year’s awards were amazing. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to Waterstones Piccadilly for once again hosting us. Bring on our seventh year!”
Helen Lewis, co-founder of The DBAs: “It was a great atmosphere last night at The Diverse Book Awards party, as always, and we love being told that this is the friendliest and most positive book prize in the UK. We are grateful to everyone who made the effort to join us to celebrate the incredible books that have been longlisted, shortlisted and of course the winners of The Diverse Book Awards 2025. It’s a pinch-me moment every year that I get to be in a room with so much incredible talent. I am so proud of Th DBAs and can’t wait to see what wonderful stories I get to read next year.”
June Sarpong, author, broadcaster, diversity advocate and founder of headline sponsor Akan Books: “I am thrilled for all the winners of this year’s Diverse Book Awards, and look forward to seeing their books and stories discovered widely by readers through the power of this prize. Their stories resonate with authenticity and creativity, reminding us all of the importance of showcasing diverse voices in our industry. At Akan Books, we are truly proud to support The Diverse Book Awards and hope to see many of our authors involved in the awards in the years to come.”
The Diverse Book Awards Winners 2025
Picture Book
WINNER: Until You Find the Sun – Maryam Hassan & Anna Wilson (Hodder, Hachette)
SECOND PLACE: The Boy Who Loves to Lick the Wind – Fiona Carswell & Yu Rong (Otter-Barry Books)
THIRD PLACE: Olu’s Teacher – Jamel C. Campbell & Lydia Mba (Walker Books)
Children’s Fiction Sponsored by Sparx Reader
WINNER: Birdie – J.P. Rose (Andersen Press)
SECOND PLACE: The Boy Who Fell from the Sky – Benjamin Dean (Simon & Schuster)
THIRD PLACE: The Wrong Shoes – Tom Percival (Simon & Schuster)
YA Fiction Sponsored by Madeleine Milburn Agency
WINNER: Wild East – Ashley Hickson-Lovence (PRH Children’s)
SECOND PLACE: If My Words Had Wings – Danielle Jawando (Simon & Schuster)
THIRD PLACE: Desi Girl Speaking – A.S. Hussain (Hot Key Books)
Adult Fiction Sponsored by Peters
WINNER: Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli (Magpie, Oneworld)
SECOND PLACE: The House of Broken Bricks – Fiona Williams (Faber)
THIRD PLACE: The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron (Piatkus, Little, Brown)
The Diverse Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award 2025
First introduced in 2023, as a way for the public to get involved in the voting the Readers’ Choice Award categories are Picture Books, Children’s, YA and Adult! There were more than 3,000 votes for this prize across the categories. Each of the 2025 longlisted books were open to votes from the announcement of the longlist through to the announcement of the shortlist.
The Diverse Book Awards 2025 Readers’ Choice Award – Picture Books
WINNER
Grandma’s Locs – Karen Arthur & illustrated by Camilla Ru (Tate)
Second place:
Me and my Hair – Kimberley Kinloch & Jessica Gibson (Usborne)
Third place:
Mama Car – Lucy Catchpole & Karen George (Faber)
The Diverse Book Awards 2025 Readers’ Choice Award – Children’s
WINNER
Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief – Claire Linney (Self-Published)
Second place:
Mayowa and the Sea of Words – Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury Children’s)
Third place:
Bringing Back Kay-Kay – Dev Kothari (Walker Books)
The Diverse Book Awards 2025 Readers’ Choice Award – YA
WINNER
Desi Girl Speaking – A S Hussain (Hot Key Books)
Second place:
The Love Interest – Helen Comerford (Bloomsbury Children’s)
Third place:
Dancers of the Dawn – Zulekhá A. Afzal (Rock the Boat, Oneworld)
The Diverse Book Awards 2025 Readers’ Choice Award – Adult
WINNER
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye – Briony Cameron (Piatkus, Little, Brown)
Second place:
Northern Boy – Iqbal Hussain (Unbound)
Third place:
The Thirty Before Thirty List – Tasneem Abdur-Rashid (Zaffre, Bonnier)
The Malorie Blackman Impact Award Winner
Sita Brahmachari was nominated in a public vote for the Malorie Blackman Impact Award 2025, sponsored by Renaissance, alongside Lemn Sissay and Yomi Ṣode. Last year, the Impact Award was presented to Nikesh Shukla, and this year this prestigious prize passed to Sita Brahmachari, who received the highest number of votes to win this prize.
Sita is an award-winning writer of children’s and young adult fiction whose work centres on family, identity, human rights, and underrepresented voices. Born in Derby to Indian and English parents, she has drawn lifelong inspiration from Lake District folklore, Kolkata storytelling traditions, and her background in theatre and community arts. Her debut novel Artichoke Hearts (Macmillan, 2011) won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and was named one of The Guardian’s top 50 diverse books since the 1950s. She has since published numerous acclaimed titles with leading publishers, been recognised internationally with honours such as an IBBY Award for Tender Earth, and worked extensively with schools, refugee communities, and literacy organisations. A Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Authors, Sita continues to combine teaching, residencies, and creative collaborations with a commitment to amplifying diverse stories for young readers.
Unfortunately, Malorie Blackman was unable to attend in person to present the Malorie Blackman Impact Award, sponsored by Renaissance, to the incredible winner, Sita Brahmachari, but said, “I want to say a HUGE thank you to Abiola Bello and Helen Lewis for creating the Diverse Book Awards. They wanted to shine a welcome spotlight on marginalised voices in the publishing world and that is indeed what they have done.”
Sita Brahmachari gave a powerful speech upon accepting her Impact Award at the prize-giving, she began with: “There are so many people in this room who have helped me to find my voice as a writer. I hope that every single writer that has been nominated in this room knows what an incredible thing they are doing in the story of these islands.”
