“It still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve won. I came to writing late in life and the
shock of even being nominated hasn’t worn off yet.”
In the Novel category, Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize winner The Sense
of an Ending was shortlisted but lost out to Pure by Andrew
Miller.
Claire Tomalin’s acclaimed study of Charles Dickens was beaten in the
Biography category by Matthew Hollis’s book about Edward Thomas, the First
World War poet.
Now All Roads Lead To France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas focused
on the last five years of Thomas’s life and the poet’s friendship with
Robert Frost.
Carol Ann Duffy won the Costa Poetry Award for The Bees, her first
collection since being appointed Poet Laureate in 2009.
Moira Young won the Children’s Book Award for Blood Red Road, a
post-apocalyptic thriller for teenagers. Ridley Scott has optioned the film
rights.
The overall winner will be announced on January 24.