The Dress in the Window wins at Indie Book Awards

The Dress in the Window—a picture book by LGBTQ+ author Robert Tregoning and illustrated by acclaimed illustrator Pippa Curnick—has won the Picture Book prize at the Indie Book Awards in the UK.

Published by OUP in October last year, the book is inspired by Tregoning’s husband Billy and his childhood memory of falling in love with a dress in a shop.

The award judges described it as “an uplifting, elegant story of self-love, acceptance, and embracing your true self, told in elegant rhyme”.

The Indie Book Awards are curated by independent bookshops and run as part of Independent Bookshop Week in the UK. They celebrate the best books of the summer across fiction, non-fiction, children’s fiction, and picture books.

The title has a special connection to independent bookshops because at the centre of the story is an independent shop. Robert Tregoning said it was no coincidence that the book’s ‘love-at-first-sight’ moment happens outside the shop, “which sits on a high street, beautifully brought to life by Pippa Curnick and lined with other independent shops”.

“I hope that The Dress in the Window captures some of the magic that indie shops bring to communities. I also hope that, like many of the stories I write, it helps people to feel seen, to feel understood, and to feel celebrated! I can’t thank the Indie Book Awards enough for bringing even more sparkle to the celebration,” he said.

Pippa Curnick, illustrator, said she was thrilled the book won the award, adding:

“It fills me with joy to know that it is being received with such love, and to have the support of independent bookshops means so, so much.”

You can read more about the book here.