Stirling Publishing Australia has announced that award-winning Cypriot-born Australian author Luke Icarus Simon has been shortlisted as one of six finalists in the United Kingdom’s The Selfies Book Awards for his book, The Art in My Palm.
The winners of the three categories (general fiction, children’s fiction and memoir) will be announced at a ceremony at the upcoming London Book Fair. The Selfies is the 5th international award nomination for The Art in My Palm.
The Selfies were established by BookBrunch in 2018. They are sponsored by IngramSpark Books and supported by NielsenIQ BookData, Literally PR, Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), Combined Book Exhibit and New Generation Publishing. ALLi has commented, “The Selfies has always been the most prestigious award for indie authors.”
For the first time, international authors were able to enter the contest this year. The number of entries in 2026 was double that of 2025.
The Selfies are heavily vetted by industry professionals. The panel assesses the “full package”, assessing books on these criteria: a fantastic story that entertains; quality of writing; production values; an enticing cover and blurb that successfully addresses the target audience; and an effective and creative marketing campaign that has the potential to achieve great success.
Last month, Simon’s hybrid-novel, The Art in My Palm was Longlisted for the UK Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Prize. It also was a quarter-finalist in the BookLife Prize by Publishers Weekly and was a finalist in two other international book awards. Simon’s previous release, Swimming in Words, was an Eyelands Book Awards Winner in January.
