The Costa Book Awards honour 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.
Here are the shortlistees in each category.
Novel
- Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
- This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
- The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
- The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
First novel
- The Good Guy by Susan Beale
- My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal
- The Words in My Hand by Guinevere Glasfurd
- Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Biography
- Dadland: A Journey Into Uncharted Territory by Keggie Carew
- Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years by John Guy
- The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
- I’m Not With the Band: A Writer’s Life Lost in Music by Sylvia Patterson
Poetry
- Sunshine by Melissa Lee-Houghton
- Falling Awake by Alice Oswald
- Say Something Back by Denise Riley
- Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest
Children’s books
- The Bombs That Brought Us Together by Brian Conaghan
- Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence
- The Monstrous Child by Francesca Simon
- Time Travelling With a Hamster by Ross Welford
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London every January. Read more about the Costa book awards here.
