On 24th November 2009, Costa, UK’s fastest-growing coffee shop chain, has announced on BBC Radio 4′s Front Row programme, the shortlists for the 2009 Costa Book Awards. The award is one of the most prestigious and popular literary prizes in the UK for and recognises the most enjoyable bookswriters based in the UK and Ireland. The award has 5 sub-categories: five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book.
The Costa Book Awards started life in 1971 as the Whitbread Literary Awards. From 1985 they were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2006, when Costa Coffee took over ownership – the year that both Costa and the Book Awards celebrated their 35th anniversary.
Since 1971, the awards have rewarded a wide range of excellent books and authors across all genres. Since the introduction of the overall Book of the Year Award in 1985, it has been won seven times by a novel, three times by a first novel, five times by a biography, five times by a collection of poetry and once by a children’s book.
- The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
- The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Costa First Novel Award
- The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath
- John the Revelator by Peter Murphy
- Beauty by Raphael Selbourne
- The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
Costa Novel Award
- Family Album by Penelope Lively
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
- Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Costa Biography Award
- The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius by Graham Farmelo
- The Music Room by William Fiennes
- Coda by Simon Gray
- Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorehead
Costa Poetry Award
- Angels Over Elsinore by Clive James
- One Eye’d Leigh by Katharine Kilalea
- Darwin: A Life in Poems by Ruth Padel
- A Scattering by Christopher Reid
Costa Children’s Award
- Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
- Troubadour by Mary Hoffman
- The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
- Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera
The winners of all 5 categories will be announced on 5th January 2010 while the overall winner will be announced on 26th January 2010. Last year’s Book of the Year was won by Irish author, Sebastian Barry for his book The Secret Scripture.
(Source: Costa Book Awards)
Loading ...