Heartstopper wins the Readers’ Book of the Year at Books Are My Bag Awards 2022
Alice Oseman’s graphic novel turned Netflix sensation Heartstopper has been voted readers’ favourite book of the year at the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2022, sponsored by National Book Tokens.
Announced at an awards ceremony held at Foyles Charing Cross Road and hosted by award-winning novelist Liz Fenwick, the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards honoured the best books of the year, as selected by a judging panel of booksellers and voted for by readers.
Winning in the Readers’ Choice category, where the winner is crowned exclusively by readers, Alice Oseman took home an overwhelming number of votes for her young adult graphic novel Heartstopper.
The book has sold over one million print copies and has been adapted for a Netflix series which came out in April 2022, receiving over 52.1 million views to date. After crowd-funding a limited print-run edition, in which she met her funding goal in less than two hours, Alice published Heartstopper Volume One in spring 2019 with Hachette Children’s Group, followed by Volume Two in July of the same year. Since then, Hachette Children’s Group has published two further volumes and a colouring book.
Alice Oseman also won the Breakthrough Author award with another outstanding number of votes for her Heartstopper series.
In an exceptionally strong year for LGBTQ+ authors and books, The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye, a wide-ranging and multi-layered exploration at what it means to be transgender in modern Britain, won the Non-Fiction award.
Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, which follows a top-secret government department of witches, won the Fiction award.
Erik J. Brown’s atmospheric debut All That’s Left in the World, which blends a queer love story with a post-apocalyptic thriller took home the YA Fiction award.
Lemn Sissay’s The Fire People, a collection of British Black and Asian Poetry, won in the Poetry category.
The Children’s Fiction award went to Loki: A Bad God’s Guide To Being Good by Louie Stowell, the doddle-heavy diary of trickster god Loki, which was also Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for February 2022.
The 2022 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards Winners, as chosen by readers:
Fiction
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (HarperCollins)
Non-Fiction
The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye (Penguin Books)
Poetry
The Fire People by Lemn Sissay (Canongate Books)
Young Adult Fiction
All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown (Hachette Children’s Group)
Children’s Fiction
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell (Walker Books)
Breakthrough Author
Alice Oseman, author of the Heartstopper series (Hachette and HarperCollins)
Readers’ Choice
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (Hachette Children’s Group)
