The shortlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award has just been announced:
- When Life Gives You Mangoes
by Kereen Getten, edited by Sarah Odedina (Pushkin Children’s Books) - Witch
by Finbar Hawkins, edited by Fiona Kennedy (Zephyr) - And the Stars Were Burning Brightly
by Danielle Jawando, edited by Jane Griffiths (Simon and Schuster) - A Kind of Spark
by Elle McNicoll, edited by Eishar Brar (Knights Of) - Run, Rebel
by Manjeet Mann, edited by Carmen McCullough (Penguin) - Orphans of the Tide
by Struan Murray, edited by Ben Horslen, illustrated by Manuel Sumberac (Puffin) - The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates
by Jenny Pearson, edited by Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker, illustrated by Rob Biddulph (Usborne)
The judges are:
- Zoey Dixon, YLG Librarian of the Year 2020
- Scott Evans, teacher, consultant and founder of TheReaderTeacher.com
- Natasha Radford of Chicken and Frog bookshop, Brentwood
- Liz Hyder, author of Bearmouth, winner of the 2020 Branford Boase Award.
The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s director of the Hay Festival.
Julia Eccleshare, co-founder of award and chair of the judges says, “The range of stories and voices on this year’s shortlist is thrilling. Each year the Branford Boase Award highlights the most exciting new talent and most gifted editors, and it regularly identifies changes in the direction of fiction for children. These seven books showcase all that children’s fiction can be. Here are stories that explain and provoke; reassure and challenge; that present the world through different eyes, or make us recognise what we knew but didn’t understand; and, of course, they entertain, all readers, and on repeated readings.”
The winner of the Branford Boase Award will be announced on Thursday 15 July. The winning author receives a cheque for £1,000 and both author and editor receive an inscribed plaque.