The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. They are unique in having five categories, the winner in each category winning £5,000.
The winner of the overall Costa Book of the Year, which will be announced Tuesday 24th January 2012, and will get an additional £30,000. The Costa Book of the Year Award is the only prize in which children’s books compete with adult books in this way.
Here are this year’s shortlists :
Novel Award
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (winner of the Man Booker Prize this year)
- A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
- Pure by Andrew Miller
- My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young
Read about each book in this category here.
First Novel Award
- City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
- The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
- Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson
- Pao by Kerry Young
Read about each book in this category here.
Biography Award
- Thin Paths: Journeys In and Around an Italian Mountain Village by Julia Blackburn
- Henry’s Demons: Living with Schizophrenia – A Father and Son’s Story by Patrick and Henry Cockburn
- Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas by Matthew Hollis
- Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin
Read about each book in this category here.
Poetry Award
- The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy
- Night by David Harsent
- Fiere by Jackie Kay
- November by Sean O’Brien
Read about each book in this category here.
Children’s Book Award
- Flip by Martyn Bedford
- The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce
- Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans
- Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Read about each book in this category here.
Category winners will be announced on Wednesday 4th January 2012
