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Selina Brown has been named the inaugural National Reading Hero recipient of the Queen’s Reading Room medal, a new literary award unveiled by Queen Camilla.
Brown, founder of the Black British book festival, will receive the honour in recognition of her work establishing Europe’s largest celebration of Black literature and bringing inclusive stories into primary schools in areas with low literacy rates.
Launched in 2025 in response to declining reading rates, the Queen’s Reading Room medal recognises people who “champion books and storytelling” across the UK.
Brown founded the Black British book festival in 2021, born of her frustration at being told her children’s book would not sell because it featured a Black girl on the cover. She launched the first event as a one-day festival; five years on, it has expanded into a year-round platform, hosting events at venues across the UK.
Through her Reading for Smiles programme, Brown has also introduced inclusive books into primary schools in underserved areas of the UK, and has opened two community libraries.
“As a young Black girl growing up in Britain, I found possibility in stories long before I saw it in the world around me. I built this from nothing. No network. No industry access. Just belief – and books,” Brown said.
“As a single mother of three, I put my own savings into a dream that Black British stories deserved a world-class stage,” she added. “To be named the inaugural National Reading Hero […] is beyond anything I imagined when I started. This medal belongs to every child who has ever searched for themselves in a story and not found it.”
Liz Waterland was also named Local Reading Hero for her volunteer work at Deepings Community Library in Lincolnshire over more than a decade, including securing 8,000 signatures on a petition when the library faced closure.
Waterland described the award as a “wonderful honour”, and an acknowledgment “of a lifetime spent helping to make reading accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages, wherever they may be”.
Brown and Waterland were among hundreds of nominations, which were whittled down by a judging panel featuring figures from across Britain’s literary landscape including Lady Gail Rebuck, chair of Penguin Random House UK; Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust; Alison Tweed, chief executive of Book Aid International; Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association; Sarah Mears, programmes director at Libraries Connected; Nels Abbey, founder of the Black British Writers’ Guild; and the author Ann Cleeves.
“We have been overwhelmed by the extraordinary calibre of nominations received from every corner of the United Kingdom,” said Vicki Perrin, chief executive of the Queen’s Reading Room. “We are thrilled to unveil Selina Brown and Liz Waterland as our winners: Selina for her extraordinary impact on Black British literature and community development, and Liz for the brilliant nature of her work in Lincolnshire.”
The Queen’s Reading Room is a charity founded by Queen Camilla in 2023. It runs an online book club, festivals and other initiatives to promote reading.
Nominations for next year’s medal will open on 1 June and close on 1 October.
