Five authors are announced today as category winners for the 2011 Costa Book Awards.
Novelist Andrew Miller, debut novelist, Christie Watson, biographer Matthew Hollis, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and children’s author Moira Young, have been announced as winners in their categories for the 2011 Costa Book Awards.
• Andrew Miller beats Man Booker 2011 winner Julian Barnes to take the Costa Novel Award with his sixth novel, Pure,
• Debut novelist and former Great Ormond Street nurse Christie Watson wins the Costa First Novel Award for Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, set in the Niger Delta
• Carol Ann Duffy wins the Costa Poetry Award for The Bees, her first collection since being appointed Poet Laureate two years ago
• Poet and debut biographer Matthew Hollis, triumphs over Claire Tomalin’s bestselling Dickens to take the Costa Biography Award for his first work of prose, Now All Roads Leads to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas
• Former opera singer and debut children’s writer, Moira Young, wins the Costa Children’s Book Award for Blood Red Road currently being adapted for film by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free
Originally established in 1971 by Whitbread Plc, Costa announced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK’s most prestigious book prize in 2006. The Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland.
This year’s Costa Book Awards attracted 568 entries. Judges on this year’s panels (three per category) included authors JoJo Moyes, Patrick Gale, William Fiennes and Eleanor Updale; writer and historical biographer Flora Fraser; and broadcaster and TV presenter, Helen Fospero.
The authors will each receive £5,000 and are now eligible for the ultimate prize – the 2011 Costa Book of the Year – which will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London on Tuesday 24th January 2012.
