The winners of the Costa Book Awards 2013 have been announced!
Often touted to be a more ‘lighter’ version of the Man Booker Prize, it is the only major UK book prize exclusively open to residents of the UK & Ireland and recognises works of literature across five categories – Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry & Children’s Book.
Fans of Kate Atkinson who were disappointed about her latest novel failing to make the Booker longlist, would be delighted to know her brilliant historical novel ‘Life After Life‘ claimed the honours in the Novel category.
Part-time mental health nurse Nathan Filer took home the Costa First Novel award for his book on mental illness ‘The Shock of the Fall‘.
Other category winners –
Biography: Lucy Hughes-Hallett for ‘The Pike‘, an account of the life of Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet, daredevil and one of the early precursors of Fascism.
Poetry: Michael Symmons Roberts for his sixth poetry collection ‘Drysalter‘. This is the second time he’s won the prize.
Children’s Book: Chris Riddell for ‘Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse‘, which the judges called “an instant classic”.