THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
It’s that time of year again! Wales Arts Review is proud to present Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award 2021, keep reading to see this year’s shortlist and cast your vote below.
Run by Literature Wales since 2004, the Wales Book of the Year Award is an annual prize which celebrates literary talent from across Wales in both Welsh and English. There are twelve awards in total, selected from across four categories: Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry and Children & Young People. Within both languages, one prize is awarded for each of the four categories, one as the People’s Choice and one as the overall winner. The overall winner will be selected from the category winners and will claim the title Wales Book of the Year 2021.
Wales Arts Review is very proud to once again be sponsoring and hosting the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award, where you, the public, get to have your say and vote for your choice of overall best book across the four categories.
Below is a list of the titles shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2021.
The Rhys Davies Fiction Award
Salt by Catrin Kean (Gomer)
The Memory by Judith Barrow (Honno Press)
Wild Spinning Girls by Carol Lovekin (Honno Press)
Creative Non-Fiction
The Amazingly Astonishing Story by Lucy Gannon (Seren Books)
Slatehead: The Ascent of Britain’s Slate Climbing Scene by Peter Goulding (New Welsh Review)
Lady Charlotte Guest: the Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist by Victoria Owens (Pen & Sword)
Poetry
Road Trip by Marvin Thompson (Peepal Tree Press)
Come Down by Fiona Sampson (Little Brown Book Group)
Tiger Girl by Pascale Petit (Bloodaxe Books)
Children & Young People
Wilde by Eloise Williams (Firefly Press)
Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew (Walker Books)
The Infinite by Patience Agbabi (Canongate Books)
To read more about the shortlisted titles and their authors, visit Literature Wales’ website.
To vote, select your favourite book below and click VOTE. You may vote for one title once. Any repeated votes will not be registered.
What happens next?
The winners of the English-language awards will be announced on the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show on Friday 30th of July from 6pm, whilst the Welsh-language winners will be revealed at 9pm on three consecutive nights on Radio Cymru between the 2nd and 4th of August.
‘Wales Book of the Year is such an important way of recognising and nurturing the country’s very best writing talent – especially in these extraordinary times when, for so many of us, books and writers have played a vital role,’ said Nicola Heywood Thomas, Presenter of Radio Wales Arts Show.
A collective prize fund of £14,000 will be distributed to the winning writers. Each category winner will receive a prize of £1,000 and the main award winners will receive £3,000. Each winner will also receive an iconic Wales Book of the Year trophy designed by the installation artist and blacksmith Angharad Pearce Jones.
For further information about Wales Book of the Year 2021, visit the Literature Wales website and follow Literature Wales on social media (Twitter: @LitWales/@LlenCymru; Facebook: LlenCymruLitWales; Instagram: llencymru_litwales).
