Costa Book Awards 2019 category winners announced

In the UK, the five category winners for the 2019 Costa Book Awards have been announced.

The five winners were chosen from shortlists announced in November 2019. The winning authors each receive £5000 (A$9500) and will be in the running for the £30,000 (A$56,700) Costa Book of the Year award, announced on 28 January.

The category winners are:

Novel

• Middle England (Jonathan Coe, Viking)

First novel

• The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Sara Collins, Viking)

Biography

• The Volunteer: The true story of the resistance hero who infiltrated Auschwitz (Jack Fairweather, W H Allen)

Poetry

• Flèche (Mary Jean Chan, Faber Poetry)

Children’s books

• Asha & the Spirit Bird (Jasbinder Bilan, Chicken House).

Established in 1971, the Costa Book Awards recognise ‘excellent, enjoyable books with wide appeal’, and are now the only major UK book prizes open only to authors based in the UK and Ireland.

For more information, see the Costa Awards website.

Category: Awards International news