Chimamanda Adichie, Oyinkan Braithwaite, and Cassava Republic’s The Mercy Step Make the 2026 British Book Awards Shortlists

The 2026 British Book Awards shortlists are out, and African literature has made its presence felt across three categories! Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Cursed Daughters, and Marcia Hutchinson’s The Mercy Step — published by Nigeria’s Cassava Republic Press — have all earned spots on the shortlists for one of the UK’s most prominent book prizes, with the ceremony taking place on 11 May 2026 in London.

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4th Estate) is shortlisted in the Fiction category, competing alongside Philippa Gregory and Philip Pullman. Adichie’s first novel in over a decade follows four interconnected women, two Nigerian friends in America, one of their cousins, and their housekeeper, across three continents and through the disruptions of the pandemic. The book has been one of the most celebrated releases of the past year, accumulating prize recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite, narrated by Weruche Opia, Nnei Opia Clark, and Diana Yekinni (WF Howes), is shortlisted in the Audiobook: Fiction category, alongside Philip Pullman and Jane Austen. Braithwaite, the Nigerian author of My Sister, the Serial Killer, brings her signature dark wit to this new work, and the audiobook production is a full ensemble affair.

The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson, published by Cassava Republic Press, is shortlisted in the Discover category, a prize specifically designed to amplify books from underrepresented writers and independent publishers. It is a debut novel by a British-Jamaican writer in her sixties, drawn from her own childhood in 1960s Bradford, and it is the story that Cassava Republic paid their highest-ever advance for after it was passed over by more than 50 other publishers. It is also longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026.

Three shortlists, three very different books, one clear message: African writing is having a moment at the Nibbies, and it has earned every bit of it.

See the different categories below:

Fiction