The Nero Book Awards has announced its four winners of the 2024 Awards, celebrating the best books and outstanding writing from the UK and Ireland. Liz Hyder is the winner of the children’s category for her supernatural Pembrokeshire-set novel, The Twelve (Pushkin Press). The judges – authors Patrice Lawrence and Sarah Webb and bookseller Leanne […]
Andersen Press celebrated the 90th birthday of its founder and chairman Klaus Flugge last month, inviting key authors, illustrators and friends from the near 50 years of the company. To continue the celebrations into 2025, and further honour Klaus, Andersen Press is launching The Klaus Flugge Salon, to be hosted in its new offices in […]
Congratulations to Ryde School with Upper Chine from the Isle of Wight, recently announced as winners of this year’s What on Earth! Schools Quiz Challenge. This is the third national What on Earth! Schools Quiz Challenge, which is aimed at identifying the school with the best general knowledge in the country. Out of around 300 […]
Inclusive Books for Children (IBC) has revealed the longlist for its annual book awards. The IBC Awards recognise the best new inclusive children’s books published in the UK across three categories: books for babies and toddlers (aged one to three), picture books (for ages three to seven) and children’s fiction (for ages five to nine). The winners […]
At a ceremony hosted by author, actor and presenter Stephen Mangan at London’s Southbank Centre, the winners of the 2024 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies) were announced today. Supported by Scholastic, The Lollies is the UK’s biggest celebration of funny books and one of the few awards where the winners are voted for by […]
The Nero Book Awards today announce its category shortlists for 2024, recognising the best books from the last 12 months. This is the second year of the awards, which consider Children’s Fiction alongside fiction and non-fiction for adults. The Children’s Fiction Award Shortlist is: Bird Boy by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow) […]
At a ceremony at the British Library, Sarah Hagger-Holt was last night announced winner of the 2024 Polari Children’s and YA Prize. She won with The Fights That Make Us (Usborne), a moving tale of acceptance which draws on LGBTQ+ history. The Polari Book Prizes are awarded to the UK’s book prizes for emerging and […]
7th annual CLPE Reflecting Realities survey shows significant drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in books published for children in the UK The 2024 CLPE Reflecting Realities survey is published today. This is the 7th annual Reflecting Realities survey carried out by CLPE and it shows a drop in the presence of racially […]
The winners of the School Library Association’s Information Book Award have been announced at the annual celebration of non-fiction books. Alan Bissett’s book Lads (Wren & Rook) was named overall winner, whilst Kwame Alexander took home the Children’s Choice Award for Unspoken, illustrated by Dare Coulter. Alan Bissett is a novelist, playwright and performer from […]
Readers can retrace millions of years of human history, explore the coldest places on Earth, and journey through a rainbow with the shortlist for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2024. The prize recognises the best science books for under 14s. The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges comprising CBeebies presenter and […]
The latest report from the National Literacy Trust research makes for gloomy reading. Its survey of more than 76,000 UK children and young people revealed that only 1 in 3 (34.6%) 8 to 18-year-olds say they enjoy reading in their free time. This is the lowest level recorded by the charity since it first started […]
Nominations have been announced for the 2025 Carnegies, the UK’s longest-running and best-loved children’s book awards. A total of 119 books have been nominated for the 2025 Medals. 64 books are in contention for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, which is awarded to a book written in English for children and young people that sparks […]
Libraries operator GLL is launching a new foundation to support ‘up and coming’ children’s authors. The GLL Literary Foundation will offer 20 authors bursary placements in areas where GLL operates public libraries under its ‘Better’ brand: Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth, Dudley and Lincolnshire. Each author selected for a bursary placement will receive a bursary of £750 […]
J.T. Williams is the winner of the 2024 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction for Portraits and Poison, the second book in her Lizzie & Belle junior detective series. The first in the series, Drama and Danger, was longlisted for the Little Rebels Award in 2023. Set against a backdrop of real-life British Black […]
Congratulations again to the school librarians celebrated at the School Library Association’s 2024 Awards. At a ceremony this month, school librarian Heather Grainger saw off a competitive shortlist to be named the Secondary School Librarian of the Year. Steyning C of E won the inaugural The Peter Usborne Primary School Library of the Year, while […]
The winners of the inaugural Graphic Novel Prize were announced today 7 October at an awards ceremony, hosted by broadcaster and author Konnie Huq at The Cartoon Museum, London. The audience which included school children was treated to performances from graphic novelists and comic creators Jim Smith, Sophy Henn, Thiago de Moraes and, attending via […]
New research from BookTrust has revealed that childhood reading enjoyment declines as children progress through primary school. The findings from BookTrust’s family survey data published this week, found that while 33% of seven-year-olds say they ‘love’ reading, this drops to 29% at age 10 and further declines to just a quarter (25%) by age 11. […]
The longlists have been announced for the 2025 UKLA Book Awards, the only national children’s book awards to be judged by teachers. A total of 470 books were submitted across the four categories, publishers represented for the first time include Rocket Bird Books, The Neem Tree Press, Alanna Max and Greystone Books. Awards Chair, Christine […]
Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.
Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT
Telephone: 0780 789 3369
ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).
