Margaret Atwood tells authors to be brave while ‘under threat’ after award win
The 85-year-old was presented with the award at a ceremony at Grosvenor House in London.
The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood has told authors to “be brave” while “under threat” after she won the Freedom To Publish Award at The British Book Awards 2025.
The 85-year-old was presented with the award at a ceremony at Grosvenor House in London on Monday for advocating for “reading as an act of resistance”.
In a video acceptance speech, the Canadian said: “I cannot remember a time during my own life, when words themselves felt under such threat.
“Political and religious polarisation, which appeared to be on the wane for parts of the 20th century, has increased alarmingly in the past decade. The world feels to me more like the 1930s and 40s at present than it has in the intervening 80 years.
“I have worked as a writer and in my youth in small press publishing for 60 odd years. Those years included the Soviet Union, when Samizdat was a dangerous method of publishing. Hand-produced manuscripts were secretly circulated, and bad luck for you if you were caught.
“(They now include) the recent spate of censorship and book banning, not only in the oppressive countries around the world, but also in the United States. (They also include) the attempt to expel from universities anyone who disagrees with the dogmas of their would-be controllers.
“This kind of sentiment is not confined to one extremism or the other – the so called left or the so called right.
“All extremisms share the desire to erase their opponents, to stifle any creative expression that is not propaganda for themselves, and to shut down dialogue. They don’t want a dialogue, they want a monologue. They don’t want many voices, they want only one.
“In a free world publishers and booksellers stand for the many.
“If free governments and the free human intelligence are to survive, the guardians and transmitters of words in all their multiplicity must be brave. I wish you strength and hope, and the courage to withstand the mobs on one hand and the whims of vengeful potentates on the other.”
Other winners at the ceremony included the late Russian politician Alexei Navalny, who won Overall Book Of The Year for his posthumous memoir Patriot – beating Boris Johnson, Gillian Anderson and Sir Chris Hoy to the gong.
Accepting the award in his honour, Mr Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnya said: “This book was never meant to be published after Alexei’s death, Alexei wrote it with all the strength, wit and honesty that defined him.
“He wrote in secret from a prison cell under the most brutal conditions with no access to books, to the internet, to anything but his own memory and will. And yet he created a manuscript that speaks with clarity and conviction not only about Russia, but about freedom, justice and what it means to remain human.
“After he was killed, publishing this book became more than a responsibility – it became a mission. I worked closely with his editors and friends to preserve every word, every sentence, just as he intended.
“I’m profoundly grateful for the compassion and solidarity with which readers around the world have embraced it.
“Receiving this award, from across the book community is a powerful recognition of the strength of Alexei’s voice. It tells us that truth still matters, that integrity matters, that words can break through even the hardest walls and reach hearts everywhere.”
Percival Everett took home Author of the Year and Fiction Book Of The Year for his 24th novel James, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter won Debut Fiction Book Of The Year, and Jamie Smart’s Bunny Vs Monkey and Marian Keyes’ My Favourite Mistake were joint winners of Book Of The Year – Audiobook: Fiction.
Isabella Tree and Angela Harding won Children’s Non-Fiction Book Of The Year for Wilding, Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler won Children’s Illustrated Book Of The Year for Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures Of A Penguin, and Len Pennie’s Poyums won Discover Book Of The Year.
Stanley Tucci’s bestselling food diary What I Ate In One Year won Book Of The Year – Non-Fiction: Lifestyle And Illustrated, Abir Mukherjee won Crime And Thriller Book Of The Year for Hunted, and Patric Gagne won Audiobook Non-Fiction for Sociopath.
Saara El-Arifi’s Faebound won Pageturner Book Of The Year, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney won Book Of The Year – Children’s Fiction, and Kate Mosse was awarded The British Book Award For Social Impact In Celebration Of Allen Lane.
