Pan Macmillan shortlisted across ten categories at The British Audio Awards 2026
Pan Macmillan has secured ten nominations in the second annual British Audio Awards, across both Best Audiobook and Best Performance categories.
The total more than doubles the publisher's shortlist presence from the inaugural event last year.
The nominations recognise outstanding achievement in voice performance, sound production, and audiobook storytelling across fiction, non fiction and children's publishing.
Pan Macmillan nominations
- Nominated Titles & Categories:
- Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe – Best Audiobook: Romance
- Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray – Best Audiobook: Crime & Thriller
- John of John by Douglas Stuart – Best Audiobook: Fiction
- John of John (narrated by Lorne MacFadyen) – Best Performance: New Voice
- Literally by Ella Willis – Best Audiobook: Specialist
- London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe – Best Audiobook: Non-fiction
- My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney – Best Audiobook: Crime & Thriller
- The Last Lovesong by Lucinda Riley – Best Audiobook: Romance
- The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan – Best Audiobook: Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Tiny Hercules by Jon Lock and Nich Angell – Best Audiobook: Children's
Judges enthused by Pan Macmillan's audio offering
Booker Prize longlisted John of John by Douglas Stuart appears in two categories, with his Hebridean novel's audio version being commended for 'honour[ing] the richness of its Gaelic heritage', while Lorne MacFadyen's award-nominated performance is praised due to his 'familiarity with Gaelic, [which] gave him an instinctive understanding of the rhythms, language and identity at the heart of [John of John].'
In the Specialist category, the recording process behind Ella Willis's Literally: A Joyful Guide to the Ups and Downs of Being Autistic, which is about the autistic experience, is deemed by judges to have 'reflected its values of accessibility and inclusion, with every stage of production planned in consultation with author and narrator Ella Willis.'
In Non Fiction, Patrick Radden Keefe's Sunday Times chart-topping London Falling is nominated. Narrated by Radden Keefe himself, judges said 'the audiobook transforms years of investigative reporting on London’s criminal underworld into an intimate listening experience.'
Winner of the Earphones Award for Excellence in Narration from Kirkus Audiobook Reviews, The Red Winter features in Science Fiction & Fantasy. The blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power and redemption, written by Cameron Sullivan, is a historical fantasy retelling of the Beast of Gévaudan myth narrated by Rory Barnett and Imogen Church.
Bringing a graphic novel to life in audio was not a problem for the team behind Jon Lock and Nich Angell's Tiny Hercules. As noted by the Speakies panel, 'the authors wrote entirely new dialogue for the audio adaptation, including an original rap – all narrated by Tom Babbage.'
A double double
Pan Macmillan can celebrate two shortlistings in the Romance category, with H. M. Wolfe's Daggermouth, which 'sought to evoke the immediacy of a live performance' with its duet performance, and The Last Lovesong, written by author Lucinda Riley and reworked by her son Harry Whittaker, both making the cut. Academy award winner Jessie Buckley narrated the mother-and-son work, bringing to life the story of love and loss set in the rural west coast of Ireland.
There is another double for Pan Macmillan in the Crime & Thriller category. Alice Feeney's My Husband's Wife, is narrated by Richard Armitage, alongside Henry Rowley and Bel Powley. It marks Armitage's fifth audiobook narration for Feeney, with the use of 'audio to heighten suspense, deepen characterisation and immerse listeners in every twist of Alice Feeney’s latest psychological thriller' noted by the judges.
Alongside Feeney's work in Crime & Thriller is Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray. Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt narrates the audiobook, with the judges commenting that the audiobook set out to create 'a listening experience that captured both the relentless pace of the courtroom and the psychological tension at the heart of the novel.'
A Speakies to remember
At the inaugural Speakies awards, held at the Royal Opera House in November 2025, Pan Macmillan celebrated four shortlistings and took home two awards. Suzi Ruffell’s Am I Having Fun Now? won Business or Self-Help Audiobook of the Year, and Sarah Wynn-Williams’s Careless People was crowned Non-Fiction Memoir Audiobook of the Year. Hamza’s Wild World by Hamza Yassin and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab were also recognised on the shortlist.
This year's awards ceremony will take place on Monday 23 November at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre.
