It’s hard to imagine an era in which political books are more important and less easily discussed in a society once called a polite society, swiftly smashing this recent invitation for a party at 10 Downing Street. It can take real courage for nonfiction publishers and writers to say what they have to say nowadays. This makes the United Kingdom Parliamentary Book Award program so important and unique. It is an award system that gives tributes to overtly political books. This time of year, amid the mist of awards descending under the feet of a small PR agency – as the relentless presentation of submissions, jury, and long lists began to distort under the lights of London – the program stood out, being an achievement.
It was founded in 2016 by the Publishers Association of the United Kingdom and the Booksellers Association. The organization’s mission is to advocate the best political writings and rejoice in the connection between politics and the book world. This is incredibly satisfying when politics has generated tremendous controversy in many worldwide international publishing markets. Publishers were welcomed to designate titles and writers for this award, and booksellers selected a list of nominees. And voting began so that members of parliament could vote for a winner. By the way, these are the 2021 awards. This is one of those programs (like Costa) that decides its winner after the new year. The gift for the winner will be announced on March 9th, though the location has not been disclosed yet.
