2009 Costa Book Awards

The shortlists were announced on 25 November 2009. The winners in each category were announced on 4 January 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row programme.

Book of the Year

Winner:

• Christopher Reid, A Scattering

Children's Book

Winner:

• Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer

Shortlist:

• Siobhan Dowd, Solace of the Road
• Mary Hoffman, Troubadour
• Anna Perera, Guantanamo Boy

First Novel

Winner:

• Raphael Selbourne, Beauty

Shortlist:

• Rachel Heath, The Finest Type of English Womanhood
• Peter Murphy, John the Revelator
• Ali Shaw, The Girl with Glass Feet

Novel

Winner:

• Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn

Shortlist:

• Penelope Lively, Family Album
• Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
• Christopher Nicholson, The Elephant Keeper

Biography

Winner:

• Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius

Shortlist:

• William Fiennes, The Music Room
• Simon Gray, Coda
• Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the Precipice

Poetry

Winner:

• Christopher Reid, A Scattering

Shortlist:

• Clive James, Angels Over Elsinore
• Katharine Kilalea, One Eye'd Leigh
• Ruth Padel, Darwin: A Life in Poems

References

• Previous winners