• The Hub

    News, Notes, Talk

    Here is the shortlist for the 2020 Costa Book Awards.

    Rasheeda Saka

    November 25, 2020, 11:01am

    The Costa Book Awards, inaugurated in 1971, are a set of annual literary awards, which recognize and honor British and Irish writers of the English language. The Award comes with £5,000, and the winner from each category will be announced on January 4th.

    This year, Evan Boland’s posthumous poetry collection made the shortlist, along with Michelle Gallen’s debut novel and Susanna Clarke’s sophomore novel.

    “These poems record, in breath-taking detail the lives of ordinary women: mothers, daughters, grandmothers,” said the judges of The Historians, which has been described as the culmination of Eavan Boland’s signature themes, exploring the ways in which the hidden, sometimes all-but-erased stories of women’s lives can powerfully revise our sense of the past.

    The Costa Book of the Year winner will receive another £30,000 cash prize, and this winner will be announced on January 26th, 2021. Previous winners include Helen Macdonald and Hilary Mantel.

    Congrats to all!

    *

    2020 Costa Book Awards Shortlist

    FIRST NOVEL 
    Michelle Gallen, Big Girl, Small Town
    Sairish Hussain, The Family Tree
    Ingrid Persaud, Love After Love
    Karen Raney, All the Water in the World

    NOVEL 
    Susanna Clarke, Piranesi
    Tim Finch, Peace Talks
    Denise Mina, The Less Dead
    Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story

    BIOGRAPHY
    Julian Barnes, The Man in the Red Coat
    Rachel Clarke, Dear Life
    Lee Lawrence, The Louder I Will Sing
    Jeff Young, Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadow Play

    POETRY
    Caroline Bird, The Air Year 
    Eavan Boland, The Historians
    Rachel Long, My Darling from the Lions
    Martha Sprackland, Citadel

    CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
    Darren Charlton, Wranglestone
    Natasha Farrant, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
    Jenny Pearson, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates 
    Meg Rosoff, The Great Godden

    [h/t Irish Times]

  • Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter

    For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience, exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag. Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

    x
    %d bloggers like this: