The shortlist for the Waterstones Book of the Year 2026 has been announced, with Jackie Morris, an artist from Pembrokeshire, nominated alongside writer Robert Macfarlane for The Book of Birds - a breathtaking volume, combining Macfarlane's lyrical text with Morris' gorgeous watercolour illustrations.
A love letter to the wonders of British birdlife, this is a book to be treasured by bird-lovers of all ages, and a future classic work of reference.
Jackie Morris has written or illustrated over seventy books, including the beloved children’s classics Tell Me a Dragon and East of the Sun, West of the Moon and a volume of modern folklore for readers of all ages,Wild Folk, co-created with Tamsin Abbott, as well as introducing and illustrating Barbara Newhall Follett’s gem of wild literature, The House Without Windows.
She is the internationally bestselling and award-winning co-creator of The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, two books which have captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers of all ages.
In 2018 she won the Kate Greenaway Medal and the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year for The Lost Words. Her artwork is held by public art collections in the UK and USA and has been published in the New Statesman, Independent and Guardian among other venues.
She tours and performs with the Spell Songs ensemble around the UK, and is a Fellow of Herefordshire Art College.
The Waterstones Book of The Year title is a much-coveted award, with the illustrious list of past winners ranging from Philip Pullman and Maggie O’Farrell to Paul McCartney and Katherine Rundell. Many previous winners, including Butter by Asako Yuzuki and Murdle by G. T. Karber, went on to become Christmas Number One bestsellers in the UK, testament to the powerful impact of bookseller recommendation.
The title named Waterstones Book of the Year 2026 will receive the full and committed backing of Waterstones shops and booksellers across the UK, as well as support online and through its loyalty card programme, Waterstones Plus, which reaches over one million readers.
Bea Carvalho, Waterstones Head of Books, says: “We are delighted to announce the shortlist for Waterstones Book of the Year 2026, as voted for by booksellers. This bumper crop reflects an impressive year of publishing, with zeitgeist capturing triumphs of word of mouth, storytelling excellence, and future classics across fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books.
“Here booksellers champion books from prize winners and literary heavyweights, as well as newcomers who seem set for glittering careers, alongside stunningly produced gifts for every home. We cannot wait to share these wonderful books with our customers everywhere.”
The Waterstones Book of the Year 2026 will be chosen by a panel of Waterstones booksellers and be announced on Thursday, November 26.
The Waterstones Book of the Year 2026 shortlist in full (alphabetically by author surname) is as follows:
The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Usborne)
Lázár by Nelio Biedermann, translated by Jamie Bulloch (Quercus)
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (4th Estate)
Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne (Canongate)
Pick Your Bottles by Dan Keeling (Quadrille)
Stations by Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury)
The Adventures of Portly The Otter by M.G. Leonard, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Farshore)
The Book of Birds by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris (Hamish Hamilton)
Redwood by Ben Macintyre (Viking)
Solace House by Will Maclean (Atlantic)
Said The Dead by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Faber)
Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline)
Ottolenghi Simple Too by Yotam Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller (Ebury)
Is This A Plum? By Dan and Finn Ojari (Puffin)
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry (Granta)
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Pan Macmillan)
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zi, translated by Lin King (And Other Stories)
Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Viking)
John of John by Douglas Stuart (Pan Macmillan)
The Neverland Thieves by Katie and Kevin Tsang (Simon & Schuster)
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