Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, who died in a penal colony in February last year aged 47, was posthumously honoured last night with the prestigious Book of the Year 2025 at the British Book Awards. His memoir, Patriot, published in October, also won the Non-Fiction: Narrative gong at 35th ‘Nibbies’, beating books by Boris Johnson, Gillian Anderson and Sir Chris Hoy during a glittering prize ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
His widow Julia Nalvanya said: “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this incredible recognition. When we learnt that Patriot had won both the Non-fiction: Narrative award and the Overall Book of the Year, we were overwhelmed. It’s hard to express what this means, not just for me and for those who helped bring this book into the world, but for the memory of the man behind it. Thank you for this honour.”
US writer Percival Everett won Author of the Year and also Fiction Book of the Year for James, his bestselling reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved Jim, while Japanese writer Asako Yuzuki’s international bestseller Butter won Debut Fiction Book of the Year.
Abir Mukherjee, previously been known for his historical Wyndham & Banerjee crime series, set in 1920s colonial India, won Crime & Thriller of the year, supported by the Daily Express, for his standalone thriller Hunted – beating Richard Osman and Channel 4’s Countdown presenter Susie Dent.
US actor Stanley Tucci won Non-fiction lifestyle book of the year for his acclaimed memoir, What I Ate In One Year, which documented his thoughts and meals in 2023 during the Hollywood writers’ strike, and was last year’s top-selling autobiography from a writer outside of the UK. Other awards went to Marian Keyes, Kate Mosse, Julia Donaldson, illustrator Rob Biddulph and Saara El-Arifi, whose romantasy bestseller Faebound won Pageturner Book of the Year.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood was revealed as the fourth winner of the British Book Awards: Freedom to Publish Award. In a video message, Atwood commented on the threats to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, saying: “I cannot remember a time during my own life when words themselves have felt under such threat. Political and religious polarisation, which appeared to be on the wane for parts of the 20th century, has increased alarmingly in the past decade. The world feels to me more like the 1930s and 40s at present than it has in the intervening 80 years.”
Previous recipients include Georgian-Russian author Boris Akunin, Booker Prize-winning novelist, Salman Rushdie.
Philip Jones, chair of The British Book Awards, said: “The 35th year of these fabulous awards was the best yet, combining politics with pluralism, joy with hope. Our winners – among them Percival Everett, Kate Mosse, Rob Biddulph, Julia Donaldson, Waterstones, and Bloomsbury – speak to the great strengths of this trade. Excellence, Fortitude. Imagination. Defiance. Longevity. Ingenuity. This is a business that stands for reading and its value to society, and for three decades now The British Book Awards has stood with it. The challenges we face – from artificial intelligence to authoritarianism – are growing, but we are many, and we will not be moved from this purpose.”
Alice O’Keeffe, books editor of The Bookseller and overall chair of the Books of the Year, says: “This year’s judges brought all their expertise and enthusiasm to the table when meeting to decide The 2025 British Book Awards winners. And what winners they are, from a bestselling Japanese novel in translation to genre-defining British fantasy, from historical fiction acclaimed as a modern classic to the bravest political memoir, all published with ambition and flair. We believe many of our chosen books will be read long into the future and are delighted to celebrate them.”