For the first time, The British Book Awards, aka the Nibbies, will be hosting the BBC Radio 2 Book Club Award. Find out more about the British Book Awards. Selected from last year’s Radio 2 Book Club choices, the award will be judged by a panel of industry experts.
Sara Cox, BBC Radio 2 presenter, says:
“I’m chuffed to bits to be launching the Radio 2 Book Club Award. As an author myself, I know how important The British Book Awards are to the whole industry – so to have our own award as part of the night feels very special. We feature so many brilliant books on the podcast, so I hope this recognition will help them find new readers.”
Read on to find out who will be judging this year’s award…
Joe Haddow
Joe Haddow is a radio producer, drummer, podcast host and children’s author. He has worked at Radio 2 since 2007 – and began running the Radio 2 Book Club in 2010. As well as producing radio he hosts the Book Off! podcast where two authors go head-to-head each week in a war of the words, pitching a book they love and think everyone should read.
Joe is an art collector and has shared his passion in two middle grade books; Art Is Everywhere and From Portraits To Selfies. He is currently reading War and Peace – and loving it!
Karen McPherson
Karen has worked with the BBC Radio 2 Book Club since 2013, and has given herself the title of Chief Book Wrangler, meaning she manages hundreds of submissions each year from publishers all across the UK. Karen has always been a big reading fan, and tried to write her own version of The Animals of Farthing Wood at primary school, until it got so long teachers asked her to stop. She first worked in libraries as a Sunday assistant when she was nineteen, and then later worked for The Reading Agency, working mainly on book prizes, and also helped in the early years of the Comedy Women in Print Prize, acting as a judge in 2019.
Outside of the book world, she has worked in prisons with substance misusing offenders, and now works as a psychodynamic counsellor in Tunbridge Wells. One of books that has stayed with Karen over many years is Shark Heart by Emily Habeck, which she found a beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of love and loss.
Rosie Merotra
Rosie is currently a producer at BBC Radio 2, where she works on Trevor Nelson’s weekday afternoon show from 2–4pm. Rosie has always loved reading, and studied Classical Civilisation at university (a while ago now!), focusing on Greek and Roman literature, which really shaped her love of storytelling. More recently, she has produced the Penguin Podcast and also volunteered with a local literacy group in Tottenham, helping younger children build their confidence with reading.
One of Rosie’s favourite book club reads from the past year has been _The Poet Empress_ by Shen Tao. She found it to be such an impressive debut—really imaginative, beautifully written, and completely different from anything she’d read before.
Anisha Ratan
Anisha works in the Audiences team at the BBC, spending her days understanding what makes people tick and working closely with teams across the organisation to ensure that audiences are at the heart of everything the BBC does.
Outside of her day job she loves dance, theatre and, of course, reading. She says – if she had to pick! – her favourite book from the past year would probably be Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings, but has really enjoyed discovering new authors and books, including those on this year’s shortlist, through the Radio 2 Book Club.
Bill Plain
Bill is a Library and Customer Services Officer in East Lothian, Scotland. Reading has always been part of his life, from being told stories and read to by family members to going along to the public library after school, he has always enjoyed escaping between the pages of a book. He has worked in libraries all of his professional life and placing books into the hands of all those who come into the library is one of his greatest joys. Talking about a person’s reading adventure and finding out their opinion on a recommended book is a highlight of his day.
Recently, Bill has enjoyed Damian Barr’s The Two Roberts, a book brought to life with sensitive and historical accuracy. He found the novel about two gay Scottish artists explored not only their love and devotion but also the tribulations they face, and believes it will become a classic and well worth spending time with. When Bill isn’t reading, you will find him exploring a museum or gallery, shouting at Liverpool Football Club matches, or watching a box set or film whilst convinced that the book certainly is better.
Emma Scott
Emma is Director of Commissioning and Editorial at Calibre Audio, a national charity for people with a disability or medical condition who need audiobooks to help them access reading. She is responsible for selecting the diverse range of audiobooks available and liaising with publishers to achieve the greatest choice of titles for Calibre members. She is a passionate advocate of the audio format to make content accessible and its ability to bring a story to life, which can be the catalyst that sparks a love of reading.
Prior to joining Calibre Audio, Emma worked as a librarian for her local library service where she also developed her lifelong love of book groups, and was where she had the opportunity to join the Radio 2 Book Club panel in 2013! Emma’s favourite Radio 2 book club title that she reviewed and was chosen to feature on the show is The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell and one of her other favourites that she didn’t review but read afterwards is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. She has recommended both titles multiple times to book groups as their next choice!
Pete Hughes
Pete has worked in libraries for 35 years, having begun his career on 1 March 1991 as a library assistant in Newry Library, a temporary job he took “until a real one came along.” Decades later, he’s still proudly in the profession. He now works behind the scenes in the Libraries NI Stock Team, championing both physical and digital collections, and reader development.
He is also the cohost of the weekly LibrariesNI Bookcited podcast, where he helps showcase new writing, celebrate books and authors, and share his enthusiasm for reading with listeners across Northern Ireland. He has been a passionate member of the Radio 2 Book Club panel since 2013. Pete’s favourite ever Radio 2 Book Club choice is _A Place Called Winter_ by Patrick Gale.
Louise Richards
Louise is a Creative Executive at Literature Wales, where for the last 18 years she has been responsible for developing creative writing projects, artist training programmes and resources focused on community engagement, health and well-being and social justice across Wales. Previously, Reader in Residence setting up reading and writing groups across 5 prisons in South Wales and working in libraries and bookshops from Devon to London. She has always loved sharing a love of reading with others, especially those who may not have had opportunities to engage, enjoy playing with and getting lost in the magical world of words and looks forward to being on the inaugural Radio 2 Book Club Award panel.
Her favourite books from the last few years have been The Absolutes by Kate Potter – one of the most moving and powerful novels she have read in a long time – and, The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey – an unsettling and profound exploration of a world where some lives are valued less than others.
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