At times like these it is worth remembering the power of books. In Alexei Navalny’s Patriot – shortlisted at The British Book Awards – the Russian dissident recounts his political awakening, his life as an opponent to Vladimir Putin, and the period following his poisoning in 2020. Reader, the book’s trajectory could hardly be bleaker – Navalny died in a Siberian jail in 2024, and Putin reigns on. Nevertheless, the activist offers a message of hope. “A word of truth has tremendous power,” he writes in his prison diary.

Navalny’s version of hope is not passive. He wants the people to realise that it is they, not the gangsters such as Putin, who hold the real power, if only they would realise it and act upon it. “Whenever an opportunity arises, it is crucial to take action,” he writes. “The only thing we should fear is that we will surrender our homeland…”

In the awards submission from its publisher, Tom Weldon, chief executive of Penguin Random House UK, wrote that the launch at the Royal Festival Hall was his moment of the year: “It was an evening of tears, of laughter, of inspiration and of hope. And it was a reminder that what we do really, really matters.” 

I write this not to reflect on the current geopolitical crisis, but as a restorative ahead of the next few months, as well as a celebration of what we do. In total there are 69 books up for a Nibbie this year across the 12 Book of the Year shortlists – a few such as Want, Unleashed, and You are Here, are up for more than one award – contributing, collectively, £50m of sales through Nielsen’s Total Consumer Market. Add in the six shortlisted authors and six illustrators and it is more than £70m. David Nicholls and Jamie Smart are up for three accolades; Sarah J Maas, Gillian Anderson, Boris Johnson, Percival Everett and Dav Pilkey, two each.

In the Nibbies we see the contours of the year past and of the months to come, books that reflect, represent and reveal the world around us

The awards tell us something about ourselves. In these lists we see the contours of the year past and of the months to come, books that reflect, represent and reveal the world around us. Not all need to be Patriot. There’s a Poonami in my House is a riot of fun; Raising Hare, an unsentimental contribution to nature writing; Hot Mess, an exceptional wry-fest; Want, a deep-dive into female desire; the counterpoint provided by David Nicholls’ You Are Here, about late, blossoming love; Audible’s adaptation of 1984, timely. What unites the 69 titles is the publishing behind them, their impact on the market and how they resonated with readers. 

The Nibbies unashamedly celebrates success – “as far away from the Booker as you can imagine” its founder Fred Newman from Publishing News once said – but not at the expense of excellence. Now in its 35th year, it gives me real pleasure to witness how books are continually raised up by the trade from early winners such as Wild Swans and Bridget Jones’s Diary to last year’s Murdle.

Language is our most powerful and oldest technology, the writer Ocean Vuong said at a gathering of independent booksellers held in Denver last week. Vuong is right. Stories can unfold in many ways: they can be told in words, pictures or through audio. Perhaps the only thing that matters is that they matter to someone. And that we notice.