The shortlist for the YA Book Prize 2023 was announced last week. The YA Book Prize was launched in 2014 by The Bookseller and is the first prize in the UK and Ireland to focus purely on fiction for teenagers and young adults.

For the second year in a row, this year’s YA Book Prize is being organised in association with Edinburgh International Book Festival and young readers will have the opportunity to hear some of the shortlisted authors talk about their work in a free, live-streamed event as part of the Baillie Gifford Schools Programme on the morning of Thursday 24th August. The winner of the YA Book Prize 2023 will be announced at a live ceremony later in the day as part of the main Festival programme.

This year’s shortlist of ten titles was selected by a team at The Bookseller and includes four first-time writers as well as more-established teen and YA authors. It is now down to a panel of book experts made up of editors, reviewers, authors and booksellers, alongside teenage judges from shadowing schools across the UK, to choose the book they would be most likely to share with young adults as the overall winner.

Commenting on the shortlist, chair of the YA Book Prize Caroline Carpenter said: “I am delighted to unveil this year’s YA Book Prize shortlist, featuring lots of exciting new voices and a real range of genres, from hard-hitting contemporary stories to inventive fantasies and thrilling page-turners. There is something for everyone to enjoy on this list.”

To find out more about the authors and download the first chapter of each of the shortlisted titles, visit the YA Book Prize website.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors!

 

The 2023 YA Book Prize shortlist:

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber (Electric Monkey)

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch (Little Island Books)

Five Survive by Holly Jackson (Electric Monkey)

When Our Worlds Collided by Danielle Jawando (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

The Songs You’ve Never Heard by Becky Jerams & Ellie Wyatt (Clock Tower Publishing)

The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail (Guppy Books)

Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury (David Fickling Books)

If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So (Little Tiger Press)

The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (Electric Monkey)

Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle (Andersen Press)

Find more book awards for children and young people here.