Indie Book Awards 2022 winners announced
The winners of the 2022 Indie Book Awards have been announced on the penultimate day of Independent Bookshop Week.
Authors Salena Godden, Jason Reynolds, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, and Joseph Coelho & Allison Colpoys have been selected as this year's winners in the indie-curated book awards for categories, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Fiction, and Picture Books.
Mark Forrest announced the winners during his lunchtime show on Friday 24th June, "It’s been a delight and a privilege to announce this year’s winners from exceptional shortlists. We needed books to keep us stimulated and distracted during the lockdown. Right now, the oases of escapism provided by the UK’s independent bookshops are as important as they have always been."
Every week on Scala Radio, Mark shines a spotlight on new book releases in the Scala Radio Book Club, where he invites an author onto his show every Thursday from 10.30am, to find out about their latest release.
Find out more about the 2022 Indie Book Awards winners
Non-Fiction - House of Music -Raising the Kanneh-Masons by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
A joyous celebration of the musical talents of the Kanneh-Mason family, which also serves as a window into issues of race and class in twenty-first century Britain.
Matt Steele from The Ivybridge Bookshop, Chair of the Adult Categories Judging Panel, said "The House of Music by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason leapt out from the fascinating sweep of narrative of Non-Fiction that the shortlist presented. The story of the Kanneh-Mason family is uplifting whilst showing the vulnerability and rawness of real life. It is a salute to a hard-working and talented family, who have overcome immeasurable barriers through the generations."
Fiction - Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden
A debut novel from the poet, Salena Godden, described by The Guardian as "a miraculously light-hearted novel, leavened in the right places with a caustic, perceptive wit."
Salena Godden said: "It is a huge privilege and a great honour to see Mrs Death Misses Death win the Indie Book Awards – it means so much to me to find my debut novel has been chosen by you, indie booksellers and book lovers."
Children’s Fiction - When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds, coming-of-age novel, When I Was the Greatest, follows friendship and loyalty across neighbourhood lines in Bed Stuy, New York, and the hardship of life for urban teen, Ali.
Picture Book - My Beautiful Voice by Joseph Coelho & Allison Colpoys
Written by poet and playwright Joseph Coelho, 'My Beautiful Voice' is a moving, lyrical picture book about a shy child unlocking the power of their own voice through poetry, with the helping hand of an extra special teacher.
Joseph Coelho said: "When you enter an independent book shop, you enter a mind, a curated space, a library of love, of books chosen out of care and appreciation, out of whim and fancy. I am completely honoured to see mine and Allison Colpoys – My Beautiful Voice chosen as this year's Indie Book Award winner and can't wait to see our little book about finding you voice singing out from the bookshelves of these very special book shops."
The full Indie Book Awards 2022 shortlist:
FICTION
Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (Canongate)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)
The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex (Picador)
Still Life by Sarah Winman (HarperCollins)
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker (Hamish Hamilton)
NON-FICTION
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (Canongate)
The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes (Bloomsbury)
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Picador)
How We Met by Huma Qureshi (Elliot & Thompson Limited)
Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain by Pen Vogler (Atlantic Books)
House of Music – Raising the Kanneh-Masons by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason (Oneworld)
CHILDREN’S FICTION
The Last Bear by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (HarperCollins Children's Books)
The Week at World's End by Emma Carroll (Faber)
Frankenstiltskin: Fairy Tales Gone Bad by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Freya Hartas (Walker)
Escape Room by Christopher Edge (Nosy Crow)
The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery (Walker)
When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Akhran Girmay (Faber)
PICTURE BOOK
Arlo the Lion Who Couldn't Sleep by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children's Books)
Counting Creatures by Julia Donaldson & Sharon King-Chai (Two Hoots)
A Song of Gladness by Michael Morpurgo & Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence & Camilla Sucre (Nosy Crow)
My Beautiful Voice by Joseph Coelho & Allison Colpoys (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
The Night the Moon Went Missing by Brendan Kearney (DK)