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Malala Yousafzai, David Jason and Man Booker winner Eleanor Catton are among the authors shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards, which are designed to reflect the public's best-loved books of the year.
The awards, given in 10 categories (full shortlists below), will be announced at an event hosted by Lorraine Kelly on 11th December, with highlights shown the next day as part of ITV1’s "Lorraine on Daybreak".
Jason is up in the Autobiography/Biography of the Year category, while Jamie Oliver is a nominee for Food & Drink Book of the Year and this year's Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton is up against Gone Girl (Phoenix) author Gillian Flynn for International Author of the Year.
Jonathan Cape has two of the year's most headline-grabbing books going head to head in the Popular Fiction Book of the Year category, with Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and William Boyd’s Solo.
Non-fiction Book of the Year nominees include Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb's I am Malala (W&N); Bill Bryson's One Summer (Doubleday) and Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath (Allen Lane).
Readers will be asked to vote for their favourite from each of the category winners to win the Specsavers National Book of the Year Award, to be announced on 26th December. Previous winners include Fifty Shades of Grey, One Day and How To Be A Woman.
Dame Mary Perkins, Specsavers founder, said: "The National Book Awards are the Oscars of the literary world . . . There are such a diverse and exciting selection of writers shortlisted, I can’t wait to get stuck into the books myself."
Amanda Ross, from Cactus TV which produces the Awards, said that they are "unique in that they celebrate success in the charts" and commented on their role in recommending which books to buy as Christmas presents.
The Awards also share a media partnership with Magic FM, where nominated authors will be interviewed on air.
In addition, Waterstones will host a series of special events with shortlisted authors and previous winners in selected stores in the run-up to the awards.
Shortlist for the Specsavers National Book Awards 2013:
Autobiography/Biography of the Year:
A Long Walk Home by Judith Tebbutt (Faber)
Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders (Viking)
David Jason: My Life by David Jason (Century)
Recipe for Life by Mary Berry (Michael Joseph)
The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor with Artemis Cooper & Colin Thurbon (Hodder/John Murray)
Under a Mackerel Sky by Rick Stein (Ebury)
Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year:
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (Cornerstone)
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding (Jonathan Cape)
Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French (Michael Joseph)
Solo by William Boyd (Jonathan Cape)
The State We're In by Adele Parks (Headline)
The White Princess by Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster)
Crime Book of the Year:
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (Faber)
Dead Man's Time by Peter James (Pan Macmillan)
Never Coming Back by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph)
Never Go Back by Lee Child (Transworld)
The Carrier by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)
Food & Drink Book of the Year:
Eat by Nigel Slater (HarperCollins)
Incredible Spice Men by Cyrus Todiwala and Tony Singh (Ebury/BBC)
My Little French Kitchen by Rachel Khoo (Michael Joseph)
Paul Hollywood's Bread by Paul Hollywood, (Bloomsbury)
Tom Kerridge’s Proper Pub Food by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury)
Save With Jamie by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph)
International Author of the Year:
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (Bloomsbury)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Orion)
Inferno by Dan Brown (Transworld)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, (Granta Books)
Wonder by RJ Palacio (Transworld Corgi Children's)
Magic FM Non-fiction Book of the Year:
Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914 by Max Hastings (HarperCollins)
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (Penguin)
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb (Orion)
On the Map by Simon Garfield (Profile)
One Summer by Bill Bryson (Transworld)
The Fast Diet by Dr Michael Mosley & Mimi Spencer (Short Books)
Waterstones UK Author of the Year:
Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell (Headline)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Transworld)
The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness (Canongate)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (Headline)
The Quarry by Iain Banks (Little Brown)
National Book Tokens Children's Book of the Year:
Fortunately, the Milk... by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury Childrens)
Demon Dentist by David Walliams (HarperCollins)
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell (Macmillan Children's Books)
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Hot Key)
Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (Simon and Schuster)
The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat by Julia Donaldson (Penguin Puffin)
Audible.co.uk Audiobook of the Year:
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (Random House Audiobooks)
Demon Dentist by David Walliams (HarperAudio)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Random House Audio/Transworld Doubleday)
One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson (Audible)
Solo by William Boyd (Random House Audiobooks)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (Headline)
Books Are My Bag New Writer of the Year:
Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach (Picador)
Natural Causes by James Oswald (Michael Joseph)
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury)
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer (HarperCollins)
The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence (Hodder)
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann (Picador)
Further details of the awards and previous winners are available at the official website: www.nationalbookawards.co.uk.
Photo credit: Antonio Olmos