British Book Awards Fiction

The British Book Awards 2021, or Nibbies, represent the best of the book trade - the UK’s leading creative industry. First launched in 1990 and now run by The Bookseller, the British Book Awards and its sister awards schemes – The British Book Award for Export and Library of the Year – showcase and celebrate the best books, the best bookshops and the best publishers. The Nibbies are unique in recognising that a book’s success is not down to just one factor. It is the author’s creative genius, it is the publisher’s skill and support and it is the bookshop’s championing. The Nibbies’ Books of the Year are unapologetically about success but not ‘just’ who is top of the bestseller lists. We want to find the best independent bookshops from rural Scotland to inner-city London. We celebrate the small presses that are such a vital part of the publishing ecosystem. We champion the best illustrators.

WINNER 2023

Babel : or the necessity of violence

Kuang, R.F. ISBN: 9780008501815
Hardback

Add to Basket

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world. And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows. Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift. Until it became a prison... But can a student stand against an empire? An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.

- Browns Books Synopsis