The Lost Words wins the Beautiful Book Award at this year’s Books Are My Bag Readers Awards

Congratulations to Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, who last night won the Beautiful Book Award for The Lost Words at the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. 

Shortlisted and voted for exclusively by booksellers, the Beautiful Book Award recognises books as artefacts and celebrates the beauty of the physical book. Penguin General had two titles shortlisted in this category, with Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing also nominated alongside The Lost Words.

The Readers Awards also saw eight other Penguin Random House books make their shortlists, alongside Vintage authors Abir Mukherjee and Édouard Louis, who were both nominated for the Breakthrough Author Award.

Described by the Bookseller as 'One of the most beautiful books of the year... A symphony to the wonders of the natural world', The Lost Words is a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller and is shortlisted for this year's Waterstone's Book of the Year. With acrostic spell-poems and hand-painted illustration, it conjures lost words and species back into our everyday lives and stands against the disappearance of a wild childhood. 

The book's beautful illustrations, courtesy of co-author Jackie, have been particularly celebrated, and you can read more about her approach to the design process here.

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