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Bloomsbury founder and chief executive Nigel Newton (pictured) and author, illustrator and former Children's Laureate Anthony Browne have been awarded CBEs, for services to the publishing industry and to literature respectively, in the New Year's Honours list.
Receiving OBEs are historian and broadcaster Michael Wood and writer and producer Jed Mercurio, whose gong is for services to TV drama.
Raymond Antrobus, who won the £30,000 Rathbones Folio Prize in 2019, has received an MBE for services to literature. Joining him is the BBC's outgoing director of arts Jonty Claypole, whose honour is for services to the creation of the Culture in Quarantine Virtual Festival during Covid-19.
Library professionals receiving MBEs include former Libraries Connected president Mark Freeman and Stella Thebridge, principal librarian of Schools and Reading in Warwickshire. TES editor Darota Mroz also received an MBE.
Solihull school librarian Kim Beck; Jon Davis, manager of Dewsbury Library; Richard Sperrin Fawcett, chair of Friends of Thurston Library; and Terry Bracher, manager of Heritage Services in Wiltshire were all made Medallists of the Order of the British Empire.
Patricia Holt, secretary of the Will H Ogilvie Memorial Trust poetry charity, also received a Medal of the Order of the British Empire, for services to poetry.
Notably there were no names from the book trade among the knights or damehoods awarded, in a year dominated by recognition for healthcare workers and others who contributed to the Covid-19 response. There was, however, a knighthood for psychologist Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, whose latest book The Pattern Seekers was published by Allen Lane in November.
Damehoods were given to actor Sheila Hancock and conductor Jane Glover, as well as to Angela Eagle MP, while racing driver Lewis Hamilton and Geoffrey Cox QC were among those receiving knighthoods.
Commenting on Newton's CBE, Richard Lambert, chairman of Bloomsbury, said: "Nigel Newton’s appearance in today’s New Year’s Honours List caps a remarkable year for Bloomsbury—one that has brought not just radical changes in working practices, delivered seamlessly almost overnight, but also a continuing stream of really wonderful Bloomsbury publications. The award goes to Nigel, but of course reflects the great work of everyone in the company. Roll on 2021!"