Summary
ESTABLISHED with the aim of rewarding the most enjoyable books of the year, since its creation in 1971, The Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbreads) has always been one of the quirkiest literary prizes. Where else could a biography of Rudolf Nureyev compete against a debut poetry collection, or a children's novel about the Crusades? The shortlists for the five different categories (Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry, Children's Book) have just been announced, with the judges reading 553 books between them. As you might imagine, the books they selected cover a broad range of topics, although the shortlists are noticeably lacking in household names.
One of the exceptions is previous winner Rose Tremain, whose most recent novel The Road Home is about a man from Eastern Europe who travels to Britain in search of work. In the biography category, Simon Sebag Montefiore's account of the young Joseph Stalin is up against Michael Simkins's lighthearted memoir about his life as an amateur cricketer, while the shortlist for the First Novel award is made up entirely of women for the first time three of whom were born outside of the UK and draw on their experiences as immigrants in their novels. After the winning authors from each group have been announced on January 3, they'll go head-tohead for the ultimate prize of being named the Costa Book Of The Year (taking home a cheque for Pounds 25,000). Since the introduction of the Book Of The Year award in 1985, it has been won most frequently (seven times) by a novel and only once by a children's book (The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman).See the full content of this document
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And the Winner Is ... The Costa Book Awards ; Books
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