The category winners for the coveted East Anglian Book Awards 2020 have been revealed, celebrating the very best of publishing, writing and reading in the region.

Eastern Daily Press: The category winners of the East Anglian Book Awards 2020 have been revealed. Picture: Supplied by the National Centre for WritingThe category winners of the East Anglian Book Awards 2020 have been revealed. Picture: Supplied by the National Centre for Writing (Image: Supplied by the National Centre for Writing)

The East Anglian Book Awards is a partnership between Jarrold, the Eastern Daily Press and the National Centre for Writing with support from UEA Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The six category winning titles will now be considered by a panel of judges for the coveted £1,000 Book of the Year Award, sponsored by the PACCAR Foundation.

Flo Reynolds, programme manager of the National Centre for Writing, said: “This year’s shortlist has been particularly strong and represents the strength and breadth of writing taking place in East Anglia, so choosing the winners of each category was quite the task for the judges! Our congratulations go to all the shortlisted authors and, while we cannot gather to celebrate in person this time, we look forward to showcasing the winning books and authors during November’s digital event. We wish all the category winners the best of luck as their books come to be considered for the Book of the Year Award.”

The category winners are:

Eastern Daily Press: The category winners of the East Anglian Book Awards 2020 have been revealed. Picture: Supplied by the National Centre for WritingThe category winners of the East Anglian Book Awards 2020 have been revealed. Picture: Supplied by the National Centre for Writing (Image: Supplied by the National Centre for Writing)

· Biography and Memoir: How to be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe (Myriad Editions)

· Fiction: The Choice by Claire Wade (Orion)

· General Non-Fiction: New York to California by Jeremy Page (Propolis)

· History and Tradition: Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens by James Boyce (Icon Books)

· The Mal Peet Children’s Award: The House of One Hundred Clocks by A.M. Howell (Usborne)

· Poetry: So Many Rooms by Laura Scott (Carcanet)

The overall winner of the awards, which celebrate the very best of publishing, writing, and reading in the East of England, will be announced at a special online event on Thursday November 19. Viewers will also find out who has been awarded the Book by the Cover Award (judged by members of East Anglian Writers) and the prestigious Exceptional Contribution Award for an individual’s work within writing and publishing in the region. The event will take place on YouTube and it is free to register your place.

Caroline Jarrold, community affairs adviser at Jarrold, said: “We are excited about the change in format for the awards this year. The Covid restrictions have meant that we cannot hold our normal convivial awards lunch and, although it is always enlivening to gather together with the authors, publishers, judges and book lovers, the online nature of the event this year will give a greater opportunity to hear more about the individual books and the winning authors. It also gives us the opportunity to stay connected and celebrate the winners together. We hope that many people will join us for the event and be tempted to buy the books for themselves. The winning titles all offer a very good read and it will be quite a challenge to pick the overall Book of the Year.”

To qualify for the East Anglian Book Awards, works must be set largely in East Anglia or be written by an author living in the region – which is defined as Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and area of Fenland District Council.

Books must have been physically published for the first time between July 27 2019 and July 24 2020, and must have been commercially available in physical bookshops.

Discover more about the category winners – as well as the identity of the winner of the East Anglia Book of the Year Award – at a special online event on Thursday November 19 at 6.30pm.

Register for free now at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/whats-on/east-anglian-books-awards-2020/