From The Bookseller:
[At the] British Book Awards 2019 on Monday evening . . . Sally Rooney’s Normal People [won] the coveted Book of the Year award.
. . . .
Irish writer Rooney triumphed in winning the top gong over Michelle Obama’s Becoming (Viking), which secured two wins on the night: Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year and Audiobook of the Year. Rooney also fended off competition from David Walliams whose mammoth-seller The Ice Monster (HarperCollins, illustrated by Tony Ross) took Children’s Fiction Book of the Year.
Thriller writer Lee Child was named Author of the Year while Judith Kerr was presented with Illustrator of the Year at the awards, known across the trade as the ‘Nibbies’, at the ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House.
Rooney’s tale of two college friends growing up in Dublin was called “beautifully observed and profoundly moving” by Alice O’Keeffe, books editor of The Bookseller, who revealed it was “unanimously praised” by the judges. “It really is an exceptional novel from one of the most exciting young writers we have,” O’Keeffe said. Fellow judge Brett Woolstencroft, manager at Daunt Books, described Normal People as “ that rare thing, a sublime work of literary fiction which appeals to all because it exquisitely renders a universal experience – being young, finding love, friendship and ultimately a sense of self. Add a wonderful cover and well-judged promotion, and you have a phenomenon.” Waterstones fiction buyer Bea Carvalho, another judge, called it “fiction at its brightest and most relatable: clever yet unpretentious, literary yet highly approachable…that rare gift of a novel which can be enjoyed by readers of all tastes.”
Link to the rest at The Bookseller