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The Costa Book Awards Short Lists Are Here!

The Costa Book Awards go to the best books of the year from authors based in the UK and Ireland. Check out the short lists here!

Rabeea Saleem Nov 21, 2017

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Rabeea Saleem

Staff Writer

Rabeea is a Karachi-based writer. Her two vices are cricket and literature. Book critic for various international publications including Chicago Review of Books, Irish Times and The National. She can be reached at rabeea.reviews@gmail.com.

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It’s that time of the year. Man Booker, Goldsmiths, National Book Awards and now this. It’s raining books!

The Costa Book Awards is one of the most popular literary prizes which honours some of the most outstanding books of the year written by authors based in the UK and Ireland.

There are five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry, and Children’s Book – with one of the five winners chosen as Book of the Year. Winners in the five categories will be announced on 2nd January 2018 while Costa Book of the Year will be announced on 30th January.

I had my fingers crossed for Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 which has been shortlisted for just about every award it is eligible for. I hope it finally gets a much deserved win. Other highlights for me were The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times which sounds like a dark and strange fairytale and Kumukanda, a poetry collection from a Zambian writer which is getting a lot of buzz.

Without further ado,here are all the shortlists:

2017 Costa Novel Award

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (4th Estate)
Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney (Quercus)
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury Circus)
Tin Man by Sarah Winman (Tinder Press)

2017 Costa First Novel Award

The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks (Salt)
Montpelier Parade by Karl Geary (Harvill Secker)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (HarperCollins)
The Haunting of Henry Twist by Rebecca F. John (Serpent’s Tail)

2017 Costa Poetry Award

Kumukanda by Kayo Chingonyi (Chatto & Windus)
Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore (Bloodaxe Books)
Useful Verses by Richard Osmond (Picador)

On Balance by Sinéad Morrissey (Carcanet)

2017 Costa Children’s Book Award

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans (David Fickling Books)
The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Chicken House)
The Explorer by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

2017 Costa Biography Award

Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up by Xiaolu Guo (Chatto & Windus)
A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Rossellis and the Fight Against Mussolini by Caroline Moorehead (Chatto & Windus)
In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott (4th Estate)
Fragile Lives by Professor Stephen Westaby (HarperCollins)