Books

Three Irish writers on Costa Book Award shortlists

Karl Geary, Sarah Crossan and Sinéad Morrissey among nominations

Costa shortlisted: Sarah Crossan, Karl Geary, Sinéad Morrissey

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Martin Doyle
Tue Nov 21 2017 - 19:30

Three Irish writers are among the 20 authors shortlisted this evening for the Costa Book Awards.

Karl Geary, the former actor and screenwriter, has been shortlisted for the First Novel Award for Montpelier Parade, along with Xan Brooks for The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times; Rebecca F John for The Haunting of Henry Twist; and Gail Honeyman for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which is to be adapted for the big screen by Reese Witherspoon's production company. The judges called Montpelier Parade "a beautifully-written story about the pain and wonder of love found in unexpected places".

Karl Geary is shortlisted for Montpelier Parade, “a beautifully-written story about the pain and wonder of love found in unexpected places” Photograph: Ollie Grove

Forward Prize winner Sinéad Morrissey has been nominated for the Poetry Award for On Balance along with Kayo Chingonyi and wild food forager Richard Osmond, both for debut collections, and Helen Dunmore, who died earlier this year. The judges said of On Balance: "This collection appropriately strikes a balance between technical mastery and range and depth of enquiry."

Sarah Crossan features on the all-female Children's Book Award shortlist alongside former comedy producer Lissa Evans, Katherine Rundell and Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Crossan's novel, Moonrise, about two brothers, one on death row, is "an exceptional, compelling book for our time – its analysis is devastating but its message is hope," said the judges.

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Sinéad Morrissey has been nominated for On Balance: “This collection appropriately strikes a balance between technical mastery and range and depth of enquiry”

Sarah Crossan is nominated for Moonrise, “an exceptional, compelling book for our time – its analysis is devastating but its message is hope”

Stef Penney, 2006 Costa Book of the Year winner, has been shortlisted in the Novel Award category together with Jon McGregor, Kamila Shamsie and actor and novelist Sarah Winman.

Memoirs from heart surgeon Prof Stephen Westaby, Chinese-British writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo and novelist and historian Rebecca Stott – about life inside a Christian fundamentalist separatist cult – feature in the Biography Award alongside Caroline Moorehead’s biography of Italian anti-fascist heroes, the Rosselli family.

The Costa Book Awards is the only major UK book prize that is open solely to authors resident in Britain and Ireland and recognises the most enjoyable books across five categories published in the last year.

Judges on this year’s panels include BBC presenter and journalist Sophie Raworth, authors Freya North, Piers Torday, Lucy Atkins, Simon Garfield and Kiran Millwood Hargrave; poet Moniza Alvi; and book blogger and vlogger, Simon Savidge.

Winners in the five categories, who each receive £5,000, will be announced on January 2nd, 2018. The overall winner of the 2017 Costa Book of the Year will receive £30,000 and will be selected and announced at the Costa Book Awards ceremony in central London on January 30th. The 2016 Costa Book of the Year was Days Without End by Sebastian Barry.

COSTA BOOK AWARDS 2017 SHORTLISTS

2017 Costa Novel Award shortlist
Jon McGregor for Reservoir 13 (4th Estate)
Stef Penney for Under a Pole Star (Quercus)
Kamila Shamsie for Home Fire (Bloomsbury Circus)
Sarah Winman for Tin Man (Tinder Press)

2017 Costa First Novel Award shortlist
Xan Brooks for The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times (Salt)
Karl Geary for Montpelier Parade (Harvill Secker)
Gail Honeyman for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins)
Rebecca F John for The Haunting of Henry Twist (Serpent's Tail)

2017 Costa Biography Award shortlist
Xiaolu Guo for Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up (Chatto & Windus)
Caroline Moorehead for A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Rossellis and the Fight Against Mussolini (Chatto & Windus)
Rebecca Stott for In The Days of Rain (4th Estate)
Prof Stephen Westaby for Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table (HarperCollins)

2017 Costa Poetry Award shortlist
Kayo Chingonyi for Kumukanda (Chatto & Windus)
Helen Dunmore for Inside the Wave (Bloodaxe Books)
Sinéad Morrissey for On Balance (Carcanet)
Richard Osmond for Useful Verses (Picador)

2017 Costa Children's Book Award shortlist
Sarah Crossan for Moonrise (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
Lissa Evans for Wed Wabbit (David Fickling Books)
Kiran Millwood Hargrave for The Island at the End of Everything (Chicken House)
Katherine Rundell for The Explorer (Bloomsbury Children's Books)