Ebury, part of Penguin Random House, was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards which were held at London’s Grosvenor Hotel in Mayfair on 13 May. Profile was named Independent Publisher of the Year, and one of its hits, GT Karber’s Murdle (pictured) won the coveted Overall Book of the Year.
Organisers of the Bookseller said Ebury took the top gong following what judges called “an exceptional 12 months”, with total consumer market sales up by 2% year-on-year to almost £51m for 2023. Judges added: “The stellar results are the culmination of a five-year overhaul of Ebury under managing director Joel Rickett and publisher Andrew Goodfellow that has created five autonomous hubs led by areas of publishing – lifestyle, entertainment, food, self and smart – rather than imprints of departments. It has also moved from a push to a pull model of publishing with a ‘permanent’ frontlist mentality and an open, can-do and no-blame culture.”
Small Press of the Year went to Magic Cat Publishing, Imprint of the Year went to Piatkus, part of Hachette-owned Little, Brown, and Children’s Publisher of the Year went to Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
Welsh bookshop Book-ish was named Independent Bookshop of the Year, and the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, north London, was named Book Retailer of the Year. Finally, Georgian-Russian author Boris Akunin, whose books are banned in Russia, received the British Book Award for Freedom to Publish.
