Winners of the 2023 Diverse Book Awards announced
Diverse Books Celebrated
Last week, the Diverse Book Award 2023 winners were officially revealed.
Now in their fourth year, these awards were created by award-winning author Abiola Bello and award-winning publicist Helen Lewis, to highlight the best of the diverse voices published in the UK and Ireland. The Diverse Book Award children’s category shortlists aimed to showcase the best of the UK and Ireland’s diverse children’s books.
BooksForTopics director Alison Leach was honoured to be involved in judging these awards for a second year running. The organisers of the awards hope that the longlist, shortlist and winners will become essential reading on a national level, highlighting the outstanding diverse and inclusive books published by authors based in the UK and Ireland.
The award party was held at Waterstones Piccadilly in London last week, which saw publishers, authors, illustrators and literary agents from across the UK come together to celebrate the winning diverse books. Among the winners were J.T. Williams, Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Manjeet Mann, and a number of the winning books will be familiar to the BooksForTopics community from their appearances on our primary school booklists and our recommended reading lists featuring Diverse Children’s Books.
The Winners of The Diverse Book Awards 2023 – Children’s Books
The Diverse Book Awards 2023 – picture book category
WINNER:
Dadaji’s Paintbrush by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Ruchi Mhansane (Andersen Press)
In second place:
Nour’s Secret Library by Wafa Tarnowska, illustrated by Vali Mintzi (Barefoot Books)
In third place:
Our Tower by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Richard Johnson (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
The Diverse Book Awards 2023 – children’s books category
WINNER:
The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger by J.T. Williams and illustrated by Simone Douglas (Farshore)
In second place:
The Twig Man by Sana Rasoul (Hashtag Press)
In third place:
A Flash of Fireflies by Aisha Bushby (Farshore)
The Diverse Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award 2023
New for 2023 was the Readers’ Choice Award. There were almost 1,000 votes for this prize across the categories. Each of the 2023 longlisted books was open to votes from the announcement of the longlist through to the announcement of the shortlist.
The Diverse Book Awards 2023 Readers’ Choice Award – picture book category
WINNER
With 23.2% of the vote…
Small’s Big Dream by Manjeet Mann, illustrated by Amanda Quartey, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.
In second place, with 15.9% of the vote…
Me and My Dysphoria Monster by Laura Kate Dale, illustrated by Ang Hui Qin, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
In third place, with 9.6% of the vote…
John Agard’s Windrush Child by John Agard, illustrated by Sophie Bass, published by Walker Books.
The Diverse Book Awards 2023 Readers’ Choice Award – children’s books category
WINNER:
With 21.2% of the vote…
The Twig Man by Sana Rasoul, published by Hashtag Press.
In second place with 10.1% of the vote…
Keep Dancing Lizzie Chu by Maisie Chan, published by Piccadilly Press.
In third place with 9.1% of the vote…
Sadé and the Shadow Beasts by Rachel Faturoti, illustrated by Rumbidzai Savanhu, published by Hodder Children’s Books.
Congratulations to the winners!
The awards also included YA and adult categories, and you can find out more details on the Diverse Book Award website.
An online ‘winners panel’ event will be held on 9th November at 7pm.
You can see the full Diverse Book Award children’s category shortlists here.
The 2024 Diverse Book Awards will reopen for nominations from mid-January 2024 to mid-March 2024.
—————–
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub.
> Browse our Topic Booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
> View our Year Group booklists
