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Indian-origin bookseller in UK named Children’s Booker judge
Basu De Sarkar joins chair of judges Frank Cottrell-Boyce and actor, writer and comedian Lolly Adefope on the adult panel for the 2027 prize.
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Pranavi Sharma - Mon, 27, Apr 2026
- 23:38 EDT
- 48
Sanchita Basu De Sarkar / Royal Society of Literature
Sanchita Basu De Sarkar, an Indian-origin bookseller in the United Kingdom, has been appointed as a judge for the inaugural Children’s Booker Prize, organizers announced April 28, 2026, as the prize opened for submissions and a nationwide search began for child judges.
Basu De Sarkar, who owns the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, London, joins chair of judges Frank Cottrell-Boyce and actor, writer and comedian Lolly Adefope on the adult panel for the 2027 prize. The award will recognize the best contemporary fiction for children ages 8 to 12, written in or translated into English and published in the U.K. or Ireland. The first winner will be announced Feb. 2, 2027.
The judging process will combine adult and child perspectives. The three adult judges will select a shortlist of eight books, to be announced Nov. 24, 2026. Three child judges, ages 8 to 12 and based in the U.K., will then join them to choose the winner.
ALSO READ: Booker launches £50,000 Children’s Prize for fiction
The competition to select the child judges opened April 28, with entries invited through parents, carers and educators. Applicants will be asked to explain their interest in reading and respond to questions about books. Entries for the first round close June 2, 2026, and the selected children will be announced alongside the shortlist.
In a video released Tuesday, Cottrell-Boyce said: ‘I’ve been asked to find three book-loving kids to join me in judging the first ever Children’s Booker Prize. Whether you’ve read one book this year or a hundred; whether you love comic books or big thick chapter books; books with loads of pictures, books with no pictures; it doesn’t matter, YOU could be exactly the judge that we’re looking for.’
He added: ‘We will get together for a special judging day, when we’ll argue and laugh and eat loads of snacks and decide which is the very best. And then we’ll have picked the winner.’ He said: ‘If you love reading and you love talking about books you would be perfect to be a Children’s Booker Prize judge.’
Basu De Sarkar said: ‘I'm thrilled to be a judge for the inaugural Children’s Booker Prize – it brings together everything I love.’ She said it would involve ‘reading loads of children’s books; getting to discuss them with some utterly brilliant people; and sharing the books with children all over the country.’
She added: ‘Judging with the children is going to be a completely unique experience.’ She said: ‘children make for the most passionate and opinionated readers.’
The prize, supported by the AKO Foundation, aims to encourage reading among children. At least 30,000 copies of shortlisted and winning books will be distributed to children in need.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
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