The shortlists for the 2019 British Book Awards have been announced, with a strong cohort of international and female talent.
Sally Rooney, Anna Burns, and Michelle Obama are among the writers shortlisted this year.
The category winners will be decided by eight separate judging panels, with judges including acclaimed illustrator Axel Scheffler, food critic Jay Rayner, and doctor and author Adam Kay.
A separate panel will go on to choose the overall Book of the Year, where Labour MP Jess Phillips is a judge alongside Sky News presenter Kay Burley.
The shortlists are as follows:
Fiction Book Of The Year
Transcription by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
Milkman by Anna Burns (Faber & Faber)
Still Me by Jojo Moyes (Michael Joseph)
Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber)
Tombland by CJ Sansom (Mantle)
Why Mummy Swears by Gill Sims (HarperFiction)
Debut Book Of The Year
The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar (Harvill Secker)
Never Greener by Ruth Jones (Bantam Press)
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Zaffre)
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce (Picador)
Lullaby by Leila Slimani (Faber & Faber)
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (Raven Books)
Crime And Thriller Book Of The Year
Our House by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster)
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn (HarperFiction)
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (Pan)
Close To Home by Cara Hunter (Viking/Penguin Paperbacks)
Macbeth by Jo Nesbo (Hogarth)
In A House Of Lies by Ian Rankin (Orion)
Children’s Fiction Book Of The Year
Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Macmillan Children’s Books)
The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson (Usborne)
Head Kid by David Baddiel (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
The Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay (MacMillan Children’s Books)
The Ice Monster by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
My Mum Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday)
Children’s Illustrated And Non-Fiction Book Of The Year
Stories Dor Boys Who Dare To Be Different by Ben Brooks, illustrated by Quinton Winter (Quercus)
Politics For Beginners by Alex Frith, Rosie Hore and Louie Stowell, illustrated by Kellan Stover (Usborne)
Oi Duck Billed Platypus! by Kes Grey and Jim Field, illustrated by Jim Field (Hodder Children’s Books)
Fantastically Great Women Who Made History by Kate Pankhurst (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed, illustrated by Toby Triumph (Wren & Rook)
I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree: A Nature Poem For Every Day of the Year by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow)
Non-fiction: Lifestyle Book Of The Year
Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible by Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene (4th Estate)
Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies) curated by Scarlett Curtis (Penguin)
Bosh! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (HQ)
Lose Weight For Good by Tom Kerridge (Absolute Press)
Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi and Tara Wigley (Ebury Press)
The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book by Ordnance Survey (Trapeze)
Non-fiction: Narrative Book Of The Year
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton (Fig Tree)
First Man In: Leading From the Front by Ant Middleton (HarperNonFiction)
Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking)
The Secret Barrister by The Secret Barrister (Picador)
The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story by Christie Watson (Chatto & Windus)
Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (Little, Brown)
Audiobook Book Of The Year
Milkman by Anna Burns, narrated by Brid Brennan (Faber & Faber)
Their Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis, narrated by Richard Armitage (Audible Studios)
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, narrated by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio)
Brief Answers To The Big Questions by Stephen Hawking, narrated by Ben Wishaw (John Murray)
First Man In: Leading From The Front by Ant Middleton, narrated by Ant Middleton (HarperNonFiction)
Becoming by Michelle Obama, narrated by Michelle Obama (Penguin)
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