xigxag is one of eight finalists for FutureBook’s Startup of the Year
Award ceremony is on same day as the FutureBook Conference on Friday 19th November at 5.15pm
Kelli Fairbrother, co-founder, speaking on ‘On the Up and Up: Innovation in Audio Formats’ at the FutureBook event
xigxag have been announced as a finalist in the FutureBook 2021 Awards startups category. The startup category celebrates those firms that are less than three years old and successful in the fields of publishing, applications and even bookstores.
Co-founders of xigxag, an innovative new digital reading app and exclusive home of the x-book® listen-and-read concept, Kelli Fairbrother and Mark Chaplin met as colleagues in 2017 and founded xigxag in 2019 to improve the experience of audiobooks and offer everyone a local, independent alternative to big tech.
Commenting on the recognition, Kelli and Mark said:
“We are delighted to earn this amazing recognition of our hard work over the last 2 years. The FutureBook Startup award exists to help propel new companies in the reading and book sector into the spotlight. We are keen readers and listeners and we hope xigxag will help make reading more accessible to all people around the world.”
FutureBook is the annual conference organised by the publishing trade magazine, The Bookseller, where the winners of their awards will be announced. The conference this year, ‘FutureBook 2021:Reset’, will be a hybrid event with options for both in person and virtual attendance. Last year’s conference attracted over 1,500 delegates from over 20 countries. The event is being held on Friday 19th November 2021. xigxag advisor and industry veteran, George Walkley, is chairing one of the panel debates, ‘On the Up and Up: Innovation in Audio Formats’ which includes xigxag founder, Kelli, alongside panellists from Google and Curio.
The startup award is one of six awards where FutureBook has announced the shortlist nominees. Other awards include the award for the best campaign, team, sustainability, event and ‘discover’ – an award focusing on representation. Activist and international footballer, Marcus Rashford, is receiving the award for person of the year after he used his platform to encourage his fans to read more books as well as campaigning against child hunger.
