The British Book Industry Awards Announced

The British Book Industry Awards, which celebrate the greatness of the British book trade and the people behind it – the best books, the best writers, the best bookshops, the best publishers - just announced it's winners.  There are multiple industry categories, so be sure to look into it further on the Bookseller site.  In the meantime, here are the winners for books of the year.

BOOKS OF THE YEAR, in association with Books Are My Bag

Début Fiction Book of the Year - The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley, John Murray
Fiction Book of the Year - A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, Picador
Non-fiction Book of the Year - Norwegian Wood, Lars Mytting, translated by Robert Ferguson, MacLehose Press
Children's Book of the Year - My Brother is a Superhero, David Solomons, illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson, Nosy Crow
Book of the Year - The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley, John Murray

2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Winner Announced

The coveted Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been announced, and it's probably not a big surprise.  Although it was a crowded field of worthy works. The 2015 winner is All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, set in the second world war and tells the story of a blind French girl and her father who flee Paris upon the German invasion.

The judges describe the book as "an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology".

Nominated for finalists for fiction were Richard Ford for Let Me Be Frank with You, The Moor's Account, by Laila Lalami, and Lovely, Dark, Deep, by Joyce Carol Oates. Find out more about the fiction award and other Pulitzer awardees on their website.

10 Man Booker International Prize Finalists Announced

For 48 years the Man Booker Prize and its judges have been discerningly selecting what they deem as the best fiction writing. The aim is to promote sales and to promote reading of intelligent works.

Launched in 2005, the Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers. 

The Man Booker International Prize 2015 winner will be revealed Tuesday 19 May 2015. See a list of the finalists here. I haven't read these authors - yet.  Have you?  Please do share and let us know your thoughts.  

Nominees Announced for the 2015 PEN Literary Awards

The world of literary awards is vast, but PEN has been around for 90 years. PEN is an international association of writers known for defending writers throughout the world to support free expression.

PEN just announced their longlists for the 2015 PEN Literary Awards, spanning fiction, nonfiction, biography, essays, translation, and more. The finalists will be announced on April 15. The winners for all 2015 awards will be announced on May 13 and honored at PEN's Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8 at The New School in New York City. 

Take a look at the PEN nominees - there are some wonderful reads here.