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.[citation needed] 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]
Contents
Book of the Year
Winner:
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:
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:
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
