Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was beaten at last night’s British Book Awards in every category in which it was nominated.
The Duke of Sussex’s controversial tell-all was the UK’s best-selling book of 2023, packed with explosive revelations and gossip about the royal family.
But during last night’s prestigious ceremony in London he lost out to a children’s writer, a puzzle book and the memoirs of a former MP.
Spare, published last January, missed out on the book of the year award, which for the first time went to a puzzle book: Murdle by GT Karber.
In the narrative non-fiction category it lost to former international development secretary Rory Stewart’s Politics On The Edge.
The Duke of Sussex’s controversial tell-all was the UK’s best-selling book of 2023, packed with explosive revelations and gossip about the royal family.
Spare, published last January, missed out on the book of the year award, which for the first time went to a puzzle book: Murdle, by GT Karber.
Author GT Karber holds a copy of his puzzle book Murdle, which won the book of the year award.
Harry also missed out on the author of the year award, which went to children’s writer Katherine Rundell, who created the fantasy series Impossible Creatures.
Harry’s memoirs covered a variety of intimate topics, including losing his virginity to an older woman, his drug use, and private arguments with members of his family, and sold 706,978 copies.
The panel of judges, who announced their winners at a ceremony at Grosvenor House in Park Lane, included authors, illustrators and trade professionals, as well as celebrities Adrian Chiles, Lorraine Kelly, Maddie Moate, Janet Ellis, Toby Jones, Nihal Arthanayake and Shappi Khorsandi. .
The book of the year, Murdle by GT Karber, was number one at Christmas and is described as “100 simple or impossible mysteries to solve using logic, skill and the power of deduction.”
Rebecca F Kuang won the fiction book of the year award for the second year in a row, this time for Yellowface, following last year’s win for Babel.