Entertainment

Bernardine Evaristo and Elif Shafak shortlisted for Indie Book Awards

The winners will be announced on June 26.
The winners will be announced on June 26. The winners will be announced on June 26.

Bernardine Evaristo, Elif Shafak and Damian Barr are among the authors shortlisted for prizes at the Indie Book Awards.

Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds and Barr’s You Will Be Safe Here all secured nominations in the fiction category.

Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five: The Untold Lives Of The Women Killed By Jack The Ripper and David Nott’s War Doctor, which tells the story of a surgeon working in conflict zones, are among the books to have been shortlisted in the non-fiction category.

The 2019 Booker Prize Longlist announced
The 2019 Booker Prize Longlist announced Evaristo is shortlisted in the fiction category (Booker Prizes/PA)

Toffee by Sarah Crossan and Emma Carroll’s The Somerset Tsunami have been nominated for best children’s fiction book.

Barr said: “Every high street needs an indie just as surely as it needs a bank and a post office and a library.

“Indie booksellers are champions for readers and writers – they can take a book and make it a conversation, because they know their customers.

Letters Live series – London
Letters Live series – London Shafak secured a nomination for her book 10 Minutes 38 Seconds (Daniel Leal-Olivas)

“I am delighted to be shortlisted for this award by my heroes.”

The Indie Book Awards are voted for by independent bookshops and judged by a panel of authors, booksellers and journalists.

The winners will be announced on June 26.