2018 Category Judges FIRST NOVEL AWARD. Emma Corfield-Walters Owner, Bookish Bookshop. Nina Pottell Books Editor, Prima Magazine

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1 2018 Category Judges FIRST NOVEL AWARD Emma Corfield-Walters Owner, Bookish Bookshop Emma has owned Book-ish in Crickhowell since 2010, coming into the book trade after 10 years of owning a building surveying business. She regularly reviews books for local press and radio and enjoys organising the bookshop s many literary events (which tend to involve a lot of cheese and wine) and pop-up bookshops for various festivals. Emma is the Co-Director of Crickhowell Literary festival, now in its fourth year. Nina Pottell Books Editor, Prima Magazine Nina is Prima Magazine s Books Editor and a profuse tweeter of books. Sathnam Sanghera Author and Journalist, The Times Sathnam Sanghera is an award-winning columnist and feature writer for The Times. He s been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards twice: first for his memoir The Boy With The Topknot (adapted by BBC Drama in 2017) and subsequently for his novel Marriage Material. He s won numerous prizes for his journalism, including Young Journalist of the Year at the 2002 British Press Awards and Media Commentator of the Year in the 2015 Comment Awards. He comes from Wolverhampton.

2 NOVEL AWARD Justine Jordan Fiction Editor, The Guardian Justine Jordan joined the Guardian as night editor on the website and was the launch editor for its books website. She currently works on the Review section as Fiction Editor, and also reviews books and interviews writers. Rachel Joyce Author Rachel Joyce moved to writing after a long career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl. She s the author of a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories as well as international bestsellers including The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, longlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Rachel was named National Book Awards New Writer of the Year in 2012 and was shortlisted for the 2014 UK Author of the Year. She s also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4. Zool Verjee Sales Development Manager, Blackwell s Oxford Zool Verjee has been a bookseller for almost twenty years and is currently Sales Development Manager at Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford. His responsibilities centre around new sales initiatives, external relationships and overseeing events, conferences and festivals. In 2011, he was named Bookshop Manager of the Year at the British Book Awards.

3 BIOGRAPHY AWARD Paula Byrne Author Paula Byrne is a well-known literary biographer and a leading scholar of Jane Austen. She s written biographies of Jane Austen, Mary Robinson, Evelyn Waugh, Dido Belle and Kick Kennedy. Her debut novel, Look To Your Wife, was published early this year. Anita Sethi Journalist, Critic and Writer Anita Sethi is an award-winning journalist, writer and critic who s written for publications including The Guardian and Observer, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Granta, The Pool and New Statesman. She s also appeared on BBC radio, and has interviewed many writers, musicians, artists, and politicians. Anita is a regular speaker and chair at festivals, and has been a writer-in-residence in Melbourne, Australia. She s been published in several anthologies including Three Things I d Tell My Younger Self and in the forthcoming Common People and Women on Nature. She was born in Manchester. Paul Wallace Owner, David s Bookshop Since 2009, Paul has been owner and manager of David's Bookshop in Letchworth Garden City, a large independent with a truly unique mix of new, second-hand and antiquarian books, new and second-hand music and a full visiting author programme. He s worked at the shop since 1995 and has always been an avid reader and bibliophile.

4 POETRY AWARD Mimi Khalvati Poet Mimi Khalvati was born in Iran but has lived most of her life in England. She s published eight collections with Carcanet Press, including The Meanest Flower (shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize), and Child: New and Selected Poems, which was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She was the founder of The Poetry School and now works as a freelance mentor and poetry tutor. She s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of The English Society. James Munroe Poetry Buyer, Foyles Bookshop James Munroe runs the Poetry Department at Foyles, Charing Cross Road. Before working in books, he played baseball for Great Britain, and was a student at Goldsmiths College. He lives with his wife in London, where he s currently writing a novel. Sameer Rahim Arts and Books Editor, Prospect Magazine Sameer Rahim works at Prospect Magazine, where he mainly deals with arts and books coverage. He s interviewed a number of poets including Seamus Heaney and Geoffrey Hill. In 2013 he won a William Hazlitt Prize for his essay on new theories about the origins of Islam. He has a novel coming out from JM Originals in 2019.

5 CHILDREN S BOOK AWARD Rick O Shea RTE Broadcaster Rick has been a presenter with Ireland s state broadcaster RTE since 2001 and currently presents weekday mornings on RTE Gold. He was previously with RTE 2FM for over 15 years and is the former presenter of The Poetry Programme on RTE Radio 1. He runs The Rick O Shea Book Club (Ireland s largest with over 20,000 members) and, along with author Sinead Moriarty, recommends quarterly book choices for Ireland s largest book retailer, Eason. He also hosts events and public author interviews at arts festivals all across the country and is the literary curator of the Waterford Writers Weekend. Outside the book world, he s been the National Patron of Epilepsy Ireland since Fleur Sinclair Owner, Sevenoaks Bookshop Fleur Sinclair has owned Sevenoaks Bookshop (est. 1948) since November She purchased the shop after working part-time as a bookseller and forming and running the bookshop s writers group. She was a judge for the 2017 Independent Bookshop Week Book Award and has recently joined the Booksellers Association Council. In a previous life, Fleur trained in photography and worked in the fashion industry as a photographer s agent. Imogen Russell Williams Children s Book Critic Imogen Russell Williams is a former theatre director, and is now children s book critic for the Guardian, the TLS and Metro. She lives in London.