The 2025 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards shortlist has finally been announced, and we are so proud to see Oisín McKenna’s Evenings and Weekends being nominated for the Newcomer of the Year category, alongside Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, Aisling Rawle, and Emma Swan.
The Readers’ Awards are a unique prize curated by bookshops and voted for by readers. In their ninth edition, the prize is now part of Books Are My Bag, the renowned campaign that aims to celebrate and support bookshops in local communities.
The shortlists are curated by a panel of experts booksellers that, based on sales history and customers feedback, select a diverse and inclusive group of authors, books, and publishers.
This year’s judges were: Angie Crawford, non-fiction buyer at Waterstones; Charlotte Le Feuvre, senior bookseller at Foyles; Emma Shannon, manager at Dubray Cork; Deborah Texeira, children’s bookseller and school coordinator at Kenilworth Books; and Helen Scott, bookseller at The Bookshop (East Grinstead).
Since its publication, Evenings and Weekends has received wonderful support from readers everywhere, and being shortlisted for the 2025 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards is a testament to the constant love the book has received.
The public vote for the awards is now live at nationalbooktokens.com/vote and will be open until Sunday 26th October.
