Panos Papadopoulos’s autobiography triumphs at Business Book Awards in London—and there’s a Lucire connection
 

Edwin Ladd/Mr Ladd Media
 
One of the Highly Commended prizes at the Business Book Awards 2023 in London on Tuesday night, in partnership with Pathway Group and organized by ThinkFest Ltd., was won by Panos: My Life, My Odyssey, the autobiography of the Greek–Swedish swimwear designer Panos Papadopoulos.

The book was ghost-written by Lucire publisher Jack Yan.

Panos founded Panos Emporio AB, Sweden’s most famous swimwear company, and was branded by the Swedish press as the ‘king of swimwear’.

Yan met Panos in the 1990s while researching a story for Lucire, and was approached to ghost-write the book in 2021.

Using notes, interviews and personal knowledge, the book came together over ten months in 2021, and was published by LID Publishing in London last year. The original manuscript was done in WordPerfect, which could handle the text and provide reasonably realistic previews of the pages.

Yan also typeset and laid out the inside of the book, while LID assigned the cover to experienced book designer Caroline Li. Martin Liu, COO of LID Publishing, oversaw the publication.

LID was also responsible for the grand prize winner on the night, Nicholas Janni’s Leader as Healer. Panos: My Life, My Odyssey won a Highly Commended in the Business Journey category.

The two titles were LID’s victors, selected from 100 books entered.

Literary agent and publishing coordinator Jacq Burns led the judging panel, which comprised an additional 42 experts.