Yomi Adegoke and Leon Diop. Image credit for Adegoke’s photo goes to Mollana Burke.

The shortlist for the 2024 British Book Awards is out! Nigerian-British author Yomi Adegoke and Senegalese-Irish writer Leon Diop both made it to this year’s shortlist!

The British Book Awards aka “the Nibbies” has been the leading awards for the book trade since 1990. The awards affirm, connect and energize all who have a hand in creating books and all who read them, by showcasing the authors and illustrators who have stirred hearts and imaginations, and the industry behind the scenes who have brought them to readers. It is often regarded as “the BAFTAs of the book trade.”

Yomi Adegoke’s The List was selected for Book of The Year in the categories Audiobook Fiction and Debut Fiction. Senegalese-Irish writer Leon Diop’s Black & Irish: Legends, Trailblazers & Everyday Heroes was selected for Book of the Year in the category of Children’s Nonfiction

Yomi Adegoke is an award-winning Nigerian journalist and author. She has co-written The Offline Diaries (2022) and Loud Black Girls (2020), and Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible (2018). She was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021 and is a recipient of the Groucho Maverick award and a Marie Clare Future Shaper award.

Leon Diop is from Dublin, Ireland, born to an Irish mother and a Senegalese father. He studied Psychology in Maynooth University where he served two years as Students’ Union President. He is the founder of Black and Irish, an organization striving to transform Ireland into a global leader in equality and inclusion. He is a host of the Black and Irish podcast with Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ.

Some of the other shortlisted writers include Prince Harry, Alice Oseman, Colleen Hoover, Steven Bartlett, and Rebecca Yarros. Winners will be announced at an in-person ceremony on May 13, 2024.

Congrats to Adegoke and Diop!