Galaxy National Book Awards

2011

The National Book Awards are considered the Oscars of the book world. For 2010 & 2011, this was the National Book Awards website when the awards were sponsored by Galaxy. The shortlist for the Galaxy National Book Awards was announced on 17 October. The winners in each category were announced on 4 November.

The winners of the awards were selected by the 750-strong Galaxy National Book Awards Academy, with representatives from all sectors of the book industry, from retailer chain buyers, independent booksellers, wholesalers, reviewers and trade press columnists.

Content is from the site's 2011 archived pages as well as other outside sources.

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The annual awards celebrate the best of British fiction and non-fiction across eleven categories, including those for debut and children's authors. The awards have evolved from the Galaxy British Book Awards and aim to recognise the country's most popular, accessible writers.

Book Award History The British Book Awards or Nibbies ran from 1990–2009 and founded by the editor of Publishing News. The award was then acquired by Agile Marketing which renamed it the National Book Awards with headline sponsors Galaxy National Book Awards (2010–11) (sponsored by Galaxy) and Specsavers National Book Awards (2012-2014) (sponsored by Specsavers).] There were no National Book Awards after 2014. In 2017 the award was acquired by The Bookseller and renamed to the original British Book Awards or Nibbies.

From Wikipedia

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London, Friday 4th November

Some of the very finest British authors and heads of UK publishing houses gathered at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge tonight to celebrate the winners of this year’s Galaxy National Book Awards. Hosted by Dara O Briain and Helen Baxendale, the awards ceremony will feature in a 6-week series of TV programmes which commence on More4 on Sunday 13th November.

Vote Now

From Saturday 5th November, the public are invited to vote online for the Galaxy Book of the Year, the nominees of which comprise winners of all eleven categories. Last year’s winner of the overall accolade, One Day, by David Nicholls recorded over 300% sales growth during December 2010, going on to become the biggest selling paperback of 2011 along with a Hollywood film release. Who will triumph this year?

Voting is currently open for the public to select their favourite from the winners below as the overall Book of the Year. Voting closes on the 20th Dec and the winner will be announced shortly after.

Audible.co.uk Audiobook of the year

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You Louisa Young (HCAudio)

Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year

A Tiny Bit Marvellous Dawn French (Penguin)

Crime & Thriller of the Year

Before I Go To sleep S J Watson (Doubleday)

More4 popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year

How To Be a Woman Caitlin Moran (Ebury)

Galaxy New Writer of the Year

When God was a Rabbit Sarah Winman (Headline)

National Book tokens Children’s Book of the Year

A Monster Calls Patrick Ness (Walker)

Food & Drink Book of the Year

The Good Cook Simon Hopkinson (BBC Books)

The Telegraph Biography of the Year

Charles Dickens Claire Tomalin (Viking)

International Author of the Year

A Visit From the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan (Corsair)

Waterstone's UK Author of the Year

The Stranger’s Child Alan Hollinghurst (Picador)

WHSmith Paperback of the Year

Room Emma Donoghue (Picador)

Outstanding Achievement Award

Jackie Collins (Simon & Schuster)

2011 News

North London Book Group win video review competition We are pleased to announce the winner of the Galaxy National Book Awards video review competition that celebrated all the great crime and thriller novels on this year's Galaxy National Book Awards shortlist. The winning reading group is the North London Book Group for their video review of SJ Watson's Before I Go to Sleep who will receive a set of iPads.

How To Be A Woman is voted Galaxy Book of the Year The winner of the Galaxy Book of the Year Award 2011 is The Times columnist Caitlin Moran for her irreverent take on modern feminism, How To Be A Woman. She was the overall winner of the public vote which comprised winners of all eleven categories from the Galaxy National Book Awards. The Times columnist Caitlin Moran is the public’s favourite as How To Be A Woman wins the Galaxy Book of the Year vote The winner of the Galaxy Book of the Year Award 2011 is The Times columnist Caitlin Moran for her irreverent take on modern feminism, How To Be A Woman. She was the overall winner of the public vote which comprised winners of all eleven categories from the Galaxy National Book Awards.



The awards ceremony, produced and staged by Cactus TV, Executive Produced by Amanda Ross, took place on Friday 4th November and was followed by a 6-part TV series broadcast on Sundays ON MORE4 from 13th November – 18th December. Cactus TV are the foremost producers of Book programming in Britain; producing over 30 Book related shows a year plus their big Book Awards Ceremonies.



How To Be A Woman dominated the charts since its release in the summer and has been described by Lauren Laverne as “an indispensable guide to Ladyhood.” The book scooped the More4 Popular Non Fiction Book Of The Year and so was then entered into the running for Galaxy Book of the Year up against some of the most popular books of 2011.



The other contenders for the Galaxy Book of the Year were: The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (Waterstone’s UK Author of the Year), A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French (Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year), Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson (Crime & Thriller of the Year), Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin (Daily Telegraph Biography of the Year), A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (International Author of the Year), The Good Cook by Simon Hopkinson (Food & Drink Book of the Year), Room by Emma Donoghue (WHSmith Paperback of the Year), A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year), My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young, read by Dan Stevens (Audible.Co.UK Audiobook of the Year), When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (Galaxy New Writer of the Year).



Upon winning the Galaxy Book of the Year award, Caitlin Moran said: “Obviously Rear Of The Year is the one I’ve always been gunning for, but since I found out it’s judged on “form” rather than “sheer volume”, then Book of the Year is not only a total honour and thrill, but also enables me to chow down on a hogroast over Christmas without worrying about fitting into my jeggings.”



Last year’s winner of the overall accolade, One Day, by David Nicholls recorded over 300% sales growth during December 2010, going on to become the biggest selling paperback of 2011 along with a Hollywood film release. The winner of the Galaxy Book of the Year Award 2011 is The Times columnist Caitlin Moran for her irreverent take on modern feminism, How To Be A Woman. She was the overall winner of the public vote which comprised winners of all eleven categories from the Galaxy National Book Awards.The awards ceremony, produced and staged by Cactus TV, Executive Produced by Amanda Ross, took place on Friday 4th November and was followed by a 6-part TV series broadcast on Sundays ON MORE4 from 13th November – 18th December. Cactus TV are the foremost producers of Book programming in Britain; producing over 30 Book related shows a year plus their big Book Awards Ceremonies.How To Be A Woman dominated the charts since its release in the summer and has been described by Lauren Laverne as “an indispensable guide to Ladyhood.” The book scooped the More4 Popular Non Fiction Book Of The Year and so was then entered into the running for Galaxy Book of the Year up against some of the most popular books of 2011.The other contenders for the Galaxy Book of the Year were: The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (Waterstone’s UK Author of the Year), A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French (Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year), Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson (Crime & Thriller of the Year), Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin (Daily Telegraph Biography of the Year), A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (International Author of the Year), The Good Cook by Simon Hopkinson (Food & Drink Book of the Year), Room by Emma Donoghue (WHSmith Paperback of the Year), A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year), My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young, read by Dan Stevens (Audible.Co.UK Audiobook of the Year), When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (Galaxy New Writer of the Year).Upon winning the Galaxy Book of the Year award, Caitlin Moran said: “Obviously Rear Of The Year is the one I’ve always been gunning for, but since I found out it’s judged on “form” rather than “sheer volume”, then Book of the Year is not only a total honour and thrill, but also enables me to chow down on a hogroast over Christmas without worrying about fitting into my jeggings.”Last year’s winner of the overall accolade, One Day, by David Nicholls recorded over 300% sales growth during December 2010, going on to become the biggest selling paperback of 2011 along with a Hollywood film release.

Win 8 iPads for your reading group To celebrate all the great crime and thriller novels in this year’s Galaxy National Book Awards, Reading Groups for Everyone has teamed up with the Galaxy National Book Awards to offer reading groups a fantastic opportunity to win 8 iPads. To enter your group will need to make a video review of a crime and thriller novel from the shortlist for this year’s Galaxy National Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year. See the Reading Groups for Everyone website for details:

London, Friday 4th November Some of the very finest British authors and heads of UK publishing houses gathered at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge tonight to celebrate the winners of this year’s Galaxy National Book Awards. Hosted by Dara O Briain and Helen Baxendale, the awards ceremony will feature in a 6-week series of TV programmes which commence on More4 on Sunday 13th November.

Among the Award winners ... Dawn French debut novel scores massive fiction hit at the Galaxy National Book Awards 2011 while Queen of celebrity scandal Jackie Collins is recognised for Outstanding Achievement, Alan Hollinghurst is crowned UK Author of the Year and Times columnist Caitlin Moran scoops the non-fiction award.

No Stranger to Success Alan Hollinghurst wins the Waterstone’s UK Author of the Year Award for The Stranger’s Child, staving off fierce competition from Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, and this year’s Booker winner, Julian Barnes. The prize reflects the acclaim for Hollinghurst’s novel and the support from many in the industry who were dismayed to see it omitted from the Man Booker shortlist in October.

Outstanding achievement In a writing career spanning over four decades, this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award went to the inimitable Jackie Collins. With readers in 40 countries and over 400 million copies sold to date, each of Jackie’s 28 novels have made the New York Times bestseller list, and her most recent, Goddess of Vengeance, went straight to number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list in April this year.

There’s never been a better time to be a woman Winner of the More4 Popular Non-Fiction Book Of The Year with How to be a Woman, The Times’ columnist Caitlin Moran said: “Brian Cox may have the Wonders of the Universe to play with - but I had the contents of my bra and pants and, ultimately, they were obviously the more mysterious and awesome. I’m thrilled that I’ve beaten off Cox to win this prize. Also, winning appears to make me look thinner.

Emma and Dawn – new double act? Two hugely successful novels rewarded at the 2011 ceremony: Room, the startling Booker shortlisted novel by Emma Donoghue, wins the WHSmith Paperback of the Year while Dawn French fends off other bestselling novels to win Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year with A Tiny Bit Marvellous. Dawn French said: "I am equally gob-smacked & delighted about this award. Not too shabby considering I'm still not 100 per cent sure where the apostrophe should go."

The biography we’ve been waiting for With her much-acclaimed Charles Dickens: A Life - published to coincide with the bicentenary of his birth – renowned biographer Claire Tomalin paints an unforgettable portrait, brilliantly capturing the complex character of this great genius, and it wins the hotly contested Daily Telegraph Biography of the Year Award.

Celebrating the best in audio publishing For the first time, the 2011 Galaxy National Book Awards featured the audible.co.uk Audiobook of the Year Award. This year’s accolade went to Louisa Young with her tale of love and loss in the First World War, My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You. Narrated by Dan Stevens.

“Storytelling as it should be” - Meg Rossof Patrick Ness defeated last year’s winner of the National Book Tokens Children's Book of the Year, Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson, with his winning novel.

This year’s Must-Read novel is an international winner While the awards primarily recognise British writers, representatives from the international literary world also gathered to witness Jennifer Egan awarded International Author of the Year for her “moving and life-enhancing” novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which was also garlanded with the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction earlier this year.

One of the night’s big surprises? Debut novelist and this year’s CWA New Blood Dagger winner, S J Watson, held off crime fiction heavyweights Martina Cole, Ian Rankin. Val McDermid, Robert Harris, C J Sansom to win the Crime & Thriller of the Year with his chilling debut Before I Go To Sleep. Already a bestseller in hardback and now optioned by Ridley Scott for cinematic adaptation, the industry predicts huge success for this intriguingly original novel in paperback in the New Year.

Patrick Ness Wins National Book Tokens Children's Book of the Year Patrick Ness defeated last year’s winner of the National Book Tokens Children's Book of the Year, Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson, with his winning novel A Monster Calls, based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd whose premature death prevented her from writing it herself. Both writers are also Carnegie Medal winners.

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Images from the Awards 2011

Alan Hollinghurst Dara O'Briain Dawn French with Rick Stein

Caitlin Moran Jackie Collins Emma Donoghue

Dawn French Patrick Ness Helen Baxendale

SJ Watson Ray Mears Erin Morgenstern

Alan Hollinghurst & Dan Stevens Mark Kermode

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2011 Galaxy National Book Awards - The Winners

The Galaxy National Book Awards honour the best books and authors of the year. These are the 2011 winners.

The 2011 winners

Galaxy Book of the Year

Voting is currently open for the public to select their favourite from the winners below as the overall Book of the Year. Voting closes on the 20th Dec and the winner will be announced shortly after.

Audible.co.uk Audiobook of the year My Dear I Wanted to Tell You Louisa Young (HCAudio) Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year A Tiny Bit Marvellous Dawn French (Penguin) Crime & Thriller of the Year Before I Go To sleep S J Watson (Doubleday) More4 popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year How To Be a Woman Caitlin Moran (Ebury) Galaxy New Writer of the Year When God was a Rabbit Sarah Winman (Headline) National Book tokens Children’s Book of the Year A Monster Calls Patrick Ness (Walker) Food & Drink Book of the Year The Good Cook Simon Hopkinson (BBC Books) The Telegraph Biography of the Year Charles Dickens Claire Tomalin (Viking) International Author of the Year A Visit From the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan (Corsair) Waterstone's UK Author of the Year The Stranger’s Child Alan Hollinghurst (Picador) WHSmith Paperback of the Year Room Emma Donoghue (Picador) Outstanding Achievement Award Jackie Collins (Simon & Schuster)



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Audiobook of the year

Audiobook of the Year Book Title Author Imprint Any Human Heart William Boyd, narrator Mike Grady Whole Story Audiobooks Before I Go To Sleep S J Watson, narrator Susannah Harker Random House AudioGo My Dear I Wanted to Tell You Louisa Young, narrator Dan Stevens HarperAudio My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Annabel Pitcher, narrator David Tennant Orion Audio Snowdrops A.D. Miller, narrator Kevin Howarth Whole Story Audiobooks The Player Of Games Iain M. Banks, narrator Peter Kenny Hachette Digital

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About the books

Any Human Heart by William Boyd, narrator Mike Grady Logan Mountstuart's life is extraordinary – travelling, mixing with movers and shakers, becoming a spy and an art-dealer. But in his private life he makes the same mistakes as the rest of us. This is his story and a journey into the human heart. Actor Mike Grady brings the tale to life with careful pace and rich voice work. Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson, narrator Susannah Harker 'As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me ...'



Welcome to Christine's life. My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young, narrator Dan Stevens Moving between Ypres, London and Paris, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You is a deeply affecting, moving and brilliant novel of love and war, and how they affect those left behind as well as those who fight. While Riley Purefoy and Peter Locke fight for their country, their survival and their sanity in the trenches of Flanders, Nadine Waveney, Julia Locke and Rose Locke do what they can at home. A superbly evocative audio read by Dan Stevens. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher, narrator David Tennant Ten-year-old Jamie has just moved to the Lake District with his Dad and his teenage sister, Jasmine. Five years ago his sister's twin, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb and his family fell apart. When he sees an advert for a TV talent show, he feels certain that this will change everything and bring them all back together. Snowdrops by A.D. Miller, narrator Kevin Howarth A riveting psychological drama that unfolds over one Moscow winter, as an Englishman’s moral compass is spun by the seductive opportunities revealed in a new Russia. Experienced actor Kevin Howarth worked closely with the author to create a vivid experience of the story laced with Russian accents. The Player Of Games Iain M. Banks, narrator Peter Kenny The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.



Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game... a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.







Galaxy National Book Awards 2010

Award categories for the Galaxy National Book Awards 2010

In 2010 the awards covered 9 categories. Below is the list of categories along with the shortlisted and winning titles (in bold).

SAINSBURY'S POPULAR FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

One Day by David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton)

Dead Like You by Peter James (Macmillan)

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson (Sphere)

Jump! by Jilly Cooper (Bantam Press)

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster)

Worth Dying For by Lee Child (Bantam Press)

NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (Pan Macmillan)

Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos (Bloomsbury)

At Home by Bill Bryson (Doubleday)

D-Day by Antony Beevor (Viking)

Must You Go? by Antonia Fraser (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Operation Mincemeat by Ben MacIntyre (Bloomsbury)

NATIONAL BOOK TOKENS NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR

Edmund de Waal by The Hare with Amber Eyes (Chatto & Windus)

The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham (Granta Books)

The Legacy by Katherine Webb (Orion)

Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt (Fig Tree)

Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons (Sceptre)

Rupture by Simon Lelic (Picador)

WH SMITH CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR

Zog by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler (Alison Green Books)

The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies, illus Hannah Shaw (Simon and Schuster)

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)

Mr Stink by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo (HarperCollins Children's Books)

TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow (Puffin)

TESCO FOOD & DRINK BOOK OF THE YEAR

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi (Ebury Press)

The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit (Bloomsbury)

Jamie's 30-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph)

Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Homeby Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus)

Kitchenella by Rose Prince (Fourth Estate)

Tender II by Nigel Slater (Fourth Estate)

TESCO BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR

The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph)

Coco Chanel, The Legend And The Life by Justine Picardie (Harper NonFiction)

Decline and Fall: Diaries 2005-2010 by Chris Mullin (Profile Books)

A Journey by Tony Blair (Hutchinson)

Wait For Me by Duchess of Devonshire (John Murray)

What You See Is What You Get by Alan Sugar (Macmillan)

INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

Jonathan Franzen: Freedom (Fourth Estate)

Colm Tóibín: Brooklyn (Penguin)

Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Quercus/MacLehose Press)

Kathryn Stockett: The Help (Fig Tree)

Emma Donoghue: Room (Picador)

Christos Tsiolkas: The Slap (Tuskar Rock Press)

WATERSTONE'S UK AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate)

Tom McCarthy: C (Jonathan Cape)

Maggie O'Farrell: The Hand That First Held Mine (Headline Review)

Kate Atkinson: Started Early, Took My Dog(Doubleday)

David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Sceptre)

Rose Tremain: Trespass (Chatto & Windus)

Lifetime achievement awards went to Terry Pratchett and Martin Amis.

GalaxyNationalBookAwards.com