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2009 Costa Book Awards

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The Costa Book Awards (before 2006 known as the Whitbread Awards) are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. This page gives details of the awards given in the year 2009.

Contents

The shortlists were announced on 25 November 2009. The winners in each category were announced on 4 January 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row programme.

Book of the Year

Winner:

  • Christopher Reid, A Scattering

    • Children's Book

    Winner:

  • Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer

    • Shortlist:

  • Siobhan Dowd, Solace of the Road
  • Mary Hoffman, Troubadour
  • Anna Perera, Guantanamo Boy

    • First Novel

    Winner:

  • Raphael Selbourne, Beauty

    • Shortlist:

  • Rachel Heath, The Finest Type of English Womanhood
  • Peter Murphy, John the Revelator
  • Ali Shaw, The Girl with Glass Feet

    • Novel

    Winner:

  • Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn

    • Shortlist:

  • Penelope Lively, Family Album
  • Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
  • Christopher Nicholson, The Elephant Keeper

    • Biography

    Winner:

  • Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius

    • Shortlist:

  • William Fiennes, The Music Room
  • Simon Gray, Coda
  • Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the Precipice

    • Poetry

    Winner:

  • Christopher Reid, A Scattering

    • Shortlist:

  • Clive James, Angels Over Elsinore
  • Katharine Kilalea, One Eye'd Leigh'
  • Ruth Padel, Darwin: A Life in Poems

    • References

    2009 Costa Book Awards Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA