Today we can reveal the shortlists for this year's EDP-Jarrold East Anglian Book Awards, the annual celebration of the best new writing from our region.

After spending the summer reading the entries our judges have selected 18 books across six categories, and now the final judging process is under way to decide the winners.

The six best and the overall East Anglian Book of the Year will be announced on November 6 at an awards dinner at the Open venue in Norwich's Bank Plain, for which tickets are now on sale. The evening, hosted by Chris Goreham of BBC Radio Norfolk, will include a talk from a star guest, the awards ceremony and a meal.

This year's awards are a collaboration between the Eastern Daily Press, Jarrold's and the literature development organisation Writers' Centre Norwich, with support from the University of East Anglia's Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The shortlisted books are:

*Fiction – judged by Ion Trewin, administrator of the Man Booker prize for Fiction and a long-time resident of west Norfolk

Worthless Men, by Andrew Cowan (Sceptre)

The Norfolk Mystery, by Ian Sansom (Fourth Estate)

My Criminal World, by Henry Sutton (Harvill Secker)

Poetry – judged by Michael Mackmin, Aylsham-based editor of poetry magazine The Rialto

Her Birth, by Rebecca Goss (Carcanet)

Waiting For Bluebeard, by Helen Ivory (Bloodaxe)

Bad Machine, by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe)

History and Tradition, judged by John Alban, recently retired county archivist

A Scandal at Felbrigg, by Trevor Heaton (Bosworth Books)

The Story of the Norwich Boot and Shoe Trade, by Frances and Michael Holmes (Norwich Heritage Products)

Maritime Norfolk, by Robert Malster (Poppyland Publishing)

Biography and Memoir, judged by Norfolk-based nature writer and biographer Mark Cocker

Touched by Untouchables, by Pat Atkinson (Connaught Books)

The Time by the Sea: Aldeburgh 1955-1958, by Ronald Blythe (Faber and Faber)

Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music, by Neil Powell (Hutchinson)

General Non-Fiction, judged by Jennifer Holland, head of Norfolk's Library and Information Service,

The Long, Wild Shore, by James McCallum (Silver Brant)

Masterpieces: Art and East Anglia, edited by Ian Collins (East Publishing / SCVA)

Coulter's Countryside, by Alan Marshall (Mascot Media)

Children's Books, judged by BJ Epstein, lecturer in literature and translation at the University of East Anglia

The Twyning, by Terence Blacker (Head of Zeus)

The Hikey Sprite, by Robert Coyle (Pen Press)

Frankie Feinstein and the Fenworld Thief-Takers, by AM Edge (Feedaread.com)

To qualify works had to be set largely in East Anglia or be written by an author living in the region, which for the awards' purposes is defined as the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the area of Fenland District Council. Books had to have been published for the first time between August 1, 2012 and July 31 of this year.

The overall winner will be chosen by a panel comprising Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at UEA, Caroline Jarrold, community affairs adviser at Jarrold, Jonathan Morley, programme director at Writers' Centre Norwich, and EDP contributor Keiron Pim. Last November 120 people – spanning from authors and publishers to members of the public who love East Anglian literature – gathered to learn the winners of the 2012 awards.

They heard novelist and poet Sophie Hannah read from her work before presenting the prizes and naming The Last Hunters by Candy Whittome and David Morris (Full Circle Editions) as the East Anglian Book of the Year.

Previous overall winners include Edith Cavell by Diana Souhami (Quercus) and The Widow's Tale by Mick Jackson (Faber and Faber).

*Tickets for the East Anglian Book Awards ceremony are available from Jarrold priced £20, which includes a hot buffet meal and a glass of Adnams wine on arrival. Telephone 01603 660661, see www.jarrold.co.uk or visit customer services in the Norwich store.