• Prestigious Nero Book Awards announce shortlists across four categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s Fiction
• Nominated writers include BBC International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, BAFTA-nominated broadcaster James Fox and bestselling authors Ian McEwan, Patrice Lawrence and Sarah Perry
• ‘One of Britain and Ireland’s greatest literary prizes’ (The Times), Nero Book Awards honour books that combine literary excellence with readability

Today, the Nero Book Awards have announced their category shortlists for 2025, recognising the best books from the last 12 months across the following categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s Fiction. The only set of multi-category awards open exclusively to writers based in the UK and Ireland, the Nero Book Awards have quickly become one of the most prestigious fixtures in the literary calendar.

From hundreds of submissions, judges have selected 16 standout titles – four in each category. On Tuesday 13^th January, these shortlists will be narrowed down to just four winning books – category winners in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s Fiction – before one goes on to claim the coveted Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year, on Tuesday 4^th March at a ceremony in London.

This year’s shortlisted books offer a vast range of subjects and themes for readers of all tastes. Histories of all kinds feature, including: forgotten crafts and culture; under-recognised groups who have made great contributions to British life; crucial periods in recent geopolitical history; forgotten artists; and historic prejudices – as well as more pressing contemporary issues such as the small boats crisis and the climate.

The books shortlisted for the 2025 Nero Book Awards are:

FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST (listed alphabetically by author surname)  

• The Two Roberts by Damian Barr (Canongate)
• Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books)
• What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
• Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking)

NON-FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST 

• We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare (Little Toller Books)
• The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (Hutchinson Heinemann)
• Craftland: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades by James Fox (The Bodley Head)
• Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry (Jonathan Cape)

DEBUT FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST

• The Expansion Project by Ben Pester (Granta Books)
• Lush by Rochelle Dowden-Lord (Serpent’s Tail)
• Season by George Harrison (Lightning)
• A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (Chatto & Windus)

CHILDREN’S FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST 

• My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin (Farshore)
• People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence (Scholastic)
• Dragonborn by Struan Murray (Puffin)
• Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson (Usborne)

Previous winners of the Nero Gold Prize have included The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, which was the winner of the 2023 Fiction award, and Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst, winner of the Non-Fiction category in 2024. Winning the Nero Gold Prize propelled both authors to new audiences and chart success.

The Nero Book Awards are run as not for profit by independent, family-owned coffee house group Caffè Nero, in partnership with The Booksellers Association and Brunel University of London. The Awards form part of the premium coffee house’s long-standing commitment to supporting the arts, recognising notable talent in a particular craft and fostering a love of reading in communities across the UK and Ireland.

This year’s panel of judges, which includes award-winning authors, respected journalists, reputable booksellers and well-known industry professionals, reviewed hundreds of books before deciding on the 16 titles which make up the 2025 category shortlists. These books are expertly crafted, highly enjoyable and likely to stand the test of time.

Gerry Ford, Founder and CEO of Caffè Nero, commented: “I’m hugely impressed by the quality of the books in this year’s shortlists. It really showcases the talent and quality of writing across the country. I know the judges found each category very strong and selecting the shortlists took a lot of debate. When I set up these Awards it was to celebrate great writing and great books to read and to showcase books which you would recommend to friends, family and people you know. This list more than does that. This is the strongest list of books the Nero Book Awards has seen yet and is indicative of the Awards going from strength to strength.”

FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST

Judged by author Sinéad Gleeson, Red Magazine literary editor Sarah Gwonyoma and BookBar owner and founder Chrissy Ryan:

• Veteran English novelist Ian McEwan –whose books including Atonement and On Chesil Beach have been adapted into major feature films – is nominated for his ‘timely and timeless’ work of speculative fiction, What We Can Know (Jonathan Cape). Its story connects the reading of a great poem in 2014 to the life of a scholar more than a century later, who attempts to track down the lost work in a much-changed and partly submerged United Kingdom. During his quest, he reflects on the extraordinary freedoms and possibilities of human life in the early 21^st century.
• Scottish writer, broadcaster and journalist Damian Barr is shortlisted for his novel, The Two Roberts (Canongate Books). Barr’s book is an ‘epic reimagination’ of the lives, love and work of the two near-forgotten Scottish artists, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde, from their days at Glasgow Art School to joining London’s painting elite in the 1930s.
• Author Oyinkan Braithwaite is shortlisted for her follow-up to the acclaimed My Sister, The Serial Killer, published in 2018. Her ‘mesmerising literary ride’, Cursed Daughters (Atlantic Books), tells the story of a curse handed down from generation to generation, ruining families and breaking hearts. After falling in love with a handsome boy she saves from drowning, daughter Eniiyi must finally confront the family history or escape the mysterious fate that befell her aunt.
• King’s College Creative Writing Lecturer Benjamin Wood (Viking), who grew up in Merseyside, is shortlisted for the ‘immersive’ Seascraper (Viking): a haunting and timeless tale about a Longferry shanker shaken from the drudgery of his days by a striking visitor promising Hollywood charm. Whether or not the American’s claims are true remains to be seen.

NON-FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST 

Judged by author Edmund Gordon, the Guardian deputy opinion editor Katy Guest, and Golden Hare Bookshop manager Polly Markham:

• The ‘curious and provocative, heartening and humane’, We Came by Sea (Little Toller Books) by Horatio Clare tells the untold story of the small boats crisis. Having written children’s books and others dealing with mental health, Clare turns his attention to the stories we don’t often hear: of the many volunteers who help thousands of refugees, the lifeboat crews mounting the greatest peacetime rescue operation – and of an uncelebrated Britain.
• The Finest Hotel in Kabul (Hutchinson Heinemann) by BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is a work of reportage recalling the recent history of Afghanistan through just one building: the Inter-Continental hotel she first visited on Christmas Eve in 1988. Having visited to cover the withdrawal of Soviet troops following their decade-long occupation, she was immediately taken by the hotel’s faded grandeur and the warm hospitality of its staff. ‘Novelistic in approach and epic in scope’, the book puts the reader directly into history.
• BAFTA-nominated broadcaster and academic James Fox is shortlisted for Craftland: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades (The Bodley Head). In this ‘meticulously researched’ book, Fox chronicles the disappearing skills and traditions that once governed every aspect of life in Britain. Seeking out the country’s last remaining master craftspeople, Fox shows how their exceptional skills not only illuminate the past, but how their wisdom can shape our future too.
• The bestselling author of novels including The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry, is nominated for her personal account of the death of her father-in-law in 2022, just nine days after a cancer diagnosis. Death of an Ordinary Man (Jonathan Cape) is a ‘revealing and generous’ memoir that turns the life of one particular, ordinary man into a universal experience everyone can relate to.

DEBUT FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST

Judged by actor and author Paterson Joseph, author and broadcaster Gary Raymond and Bookshop.org managing director Nicole Vanderbilt:

• Londoner Rochelle Dowden-Lord is shortlisted for her ‘funny, moving and sensual’ debut, Lush (Serpent’s Tail), which sees four very different people, each at crucial points in their lives, arrive at a French vineyard for a transformative experience that is not quite what they expected. Lush is a bittersweet reckoning with class, beauty, hedonism and desire.
• Season (Lightning) by Norwich-based writer George Harrison is a footballing parable and a ‘rollercoaster of emotions’. It tells the story of two men occupying adjacent seats in a football stadium: an introspective Young Man and isolated Old Man. With their team threatened by relegation, the pair strike up a life-affirming friendship, in a ‘totally immersive and transporting’ story.
• Windsor-based literature professor Claire Lynch is nominated for her ‘delicately written’ A Family Matter (Chatto & Windus), which tells of a family torn apart by secrets, prejudice and their best intentions, as a lesbian mother is forcibly separated from her child. This humane story tackles the deep-rooted prejudices of recent history and shows how far – or not – we have come in the decades since.
• Ben Pester features for his ‘fever dream’ of a novel, The Expansion Project (Granta Books), in which an employee at Capmeadow Business Park appears to lose his daughter during ‘bring your daughter to work day’. Amidst the search, Tom loses his sense of himself and his grip on reality. This is a work of surreal workplace satire from the London author, who has also written short-form fiction including a collection, Am I in the Right Place?

CHILDREN’S FICTION AWARD SHORTLIST 

Judged by author Sharna Jackson, The Telegraph children’s literary critic and author Emily Bearn and Waterstones Children’s Campaign Manager Nick Campbell:

• Jamila Gavin MBE is nominated for her ‘transcendent’ First World War epic, My Soul, A Shining Tree (Farshore). Based on the true story of an Indian World War One gunner, it is told from four perspectives: Lotte, a Belgian farmgirl whose village is the flashpoint for a battle; Ernst, a German teenage cavalry soldier whose grandiose dreams of war lie in tatters; Khudadad Khan, the gunner fighting with the British Army; and a wild walnut tree. Their stories converge and, in the process, their shared humanity emerges as a light in the darkness of war.
• Patrice Lawrence MBE is shortlisted for her ‘modern mystery’, People Like Stars (Scholastic), about three 13-year-old strangers connected by a secret. Nervous Ayrton was stolen away from his mum as a baby. He was returned safely, but now Mum won’t let him out of her sight. Curious Stanley has a Forbidden Grandmother. His mum won’t even talk about her. Homeless Sen has finally found a place to live, but she’ll be out on the street if she upsets her secretive landlady. What happens when their paths cross…?
• Scottish author Struan Murray is shortlisted for the ‘cinematic’ Dragonborn (Puffin). Ever since her dad’s death, Alex Evans’ mother has smothered her with unbreakable rules and unspoken fears. Alex discovers that she is one of the many dragons living among us and begins a fantastical journey alongside other dragon children to unlock the power of her birthright.
• Jenny Pearson’s ‘timely’ Shrapnel Boys (Usborne) follows schoolboy Ronnie Smith during the Blitz in London. While the bombs drop outside, Ronnie endures trials familiar to many children. His war is one that takes place at school and in the home. His little brother is up to no good with a secret job and dangerous new friends, and Ronnie’s worried he’s getting himself into big trouble.

To be eligible for the 2025 Nero Book Awards, books must have been first published in English in the UK or Ireland between the 1^st of December 2024 and 30^th of November 2025. At the time of entry, authors must have been alive and resident in the UK or Ireland for the past three years. The Nero Gold Prize winner will receive £30,000, whilst category winners will receive £5,000 each.