The Buzz...About Books

The Costa Book Awards acknowledge literary achievement by writers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland.  Structurally, the awards are different than other literary awards.  Initially there is a competition in five categories for Novel, First Novel, Poetry, Biography and Children's Book.  Category winners are selected from a shortlist of five titles.  The winners in each of these categories are then considered for the grand prize called the Costa Book of the Year. 

This year the award was presented to Jo Shapcott for Of Mutability, a collection of poetry in part based on her experience with breast cancer.  The book will be released in Canada later this year.  This is the second consecutive year that a poet has won'the grand prize.  In 2009, Christopher Reid won for his collection A Scattering.

This year's category winners were:
Novel Award: The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

First Novel Award: Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

Biography Award: The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

Children's Book Award: Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace

Additional information about the awards including the 2010 shortlists can be found at Costa Book Awards.