Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Sarah Wynn-Williams

This year, for the first time in its history, there are two winners of The British Book Award for Freedom to Publish. In 2025, how could there not be? The two winners are Virginia Roberts Giuffre for Nobody’s Girl (Transworld) and Sarah Wynn-Williams for Careless People (Pan Macmillan). Their stories may be different, but they represent the best of publishing, and the best of what the book trade can do to support silenced voices.

Giuffre’s Nobody’s Girl is a testimony of her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and notable others, and of her fight for justice. She began work on her book with journalist Amy Wallace in 2020; it was published posthumously following her death in April 2025. At no point could publication be guaranteed. On reading the manuscript, her editor, Transworld publisher Susanna Wadeson, said: “Virginia’s book puts victims back at the centre of our concerns. It was essential that we find a way to publish it and give her a platform – perhaps even more so after she had died.”

The legal complexities remained even after it was acquired by Transworld. The legal teams in the US and UK had to build a defence for publication that would stand up in court in all jurisdictions. Go-ahead was given just six weeks ahead of publication, when the UK legal team advised that, while risks remained, they could back publication internationally. It has gone on to sell more than 330,000 copies in the UK. Andrew Lownie, whose book Entitled, focused on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, did much to lay the groundwork for this later publication, said: “If books can shape history, this is one.”

The publication of Careless People was also fraught with legal difficulties. An exposé of Facebook, the book was announced just six days before publication. Wynn-Williams, who lives in London, had not even told her own mother that it was coming out. The necessity of this requirement was borne out when Meta obtained a legal order in a US arbitration court that silenced her on the evening before UK publication.

On 9th April 2025, Wynn-Williams testified before a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee, chaired by Senator Josh Hawley, despite putting herself in legal jeopardy by doing so. She elaborated on the claims in Careless People and her testimony was widely covered in the UK and beyond. Today, she still faces a $50,000 fine every time she breaches the order, which is why she is unable to speak about the book or this award at The British Book Awards. The Guardian called it a “morality tale for our times”, and it has now sold more than 100,000 copies in the UK across all formats. Meanwhile, her battle to reclaim her voice continues.

Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO of Index on Censorship, which is a partner on this award, said of the two books: “They are related because they’re both by women caught up in highly litigious systems. These systems delay books getting published and stop the authors speaking about the books even once they get to print… We have two women and two books and neither author can speak. The circumstances might be different but the backdrop is the same. The rich and powerful win, silencing those with less capital. What a damning thing.”

Philip Jones, chair of The British Book Awards, said: “These stories, told by silenced voices, represent the best of the book trade. The Freedom to Publish Award acts as our response to those who would silence the truth and this year recognises the bravest of people, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Sarah Wynn-Williams.”