2011 Costa Book Awards

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 2011.

The shortlists were announced on 16 November 2011.^[1] The category winners were announced on 3 January 2012 and the "Book of the Year" winner was announced on 24 January at a ceremony at Quaglino's restaurant in central London.^[2]

The editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, Geordie Greig, chaired the "Book of the Year" panel of celebrity judges; consisting of comedian Hugh Dennis, actress Dervla Kirwan, broadcaster Mary Nightingale, and authors Patrick Gale, Jojo Moyes, Flora Fraser, William Fiennes and Eleanor Updale.^[2][3][4]

Book of the Year

Winner:

• Andrew Miller, Pure^[2]

Children's Book

Winner:

• Moira Young, Blood Red Road

Shortlist:

• Martyn Bedford, Flip
• Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Unforgotten Coat
• Lissa Evans Small, Change for Stuart

First Novel

Winner:

• Christie Watson, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away

Shortlist:

• Kevin Barry, City of Bohane
• Patrick McGuinness, The Last Hundred Days
• Kerry Young, Pao

Novel

Winner:

• Andrew Miller, Pure

Shortlist:

• Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
• John Burnside, A Summer of Drowning
• Louisa Young, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

Biography

Winner:

• Matthew Hollis, Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas

Shortlist:

• Julia Blackburn, Thin Paths: Journeys In and Around an Italian Mountain Village
• Patrick Cockburn & Henry Cockburn, Henry’s Demons: Living with Schizophrenia, A Father and Son’s Story
• Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life

Poetry

Winner:

• Carol Ann Duffy, The Bees

Shortlist:

• David Harsent, Night
• Jackie Kay, Fiere
• Sean O'Brien, November

References