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Twenty books across five categories were announced as the 2019 Costa Book Awards shortlists.
The only major UK book prize open solely to UK and Irish authors, the categories recognised include: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book.
A debut novel by "the poet laureate of Twitter" has been shortlisted for the £5,000 First Novel award. Brian Bilston, 49, posts his poems to more than 68,000 followers on the social media platform and has also been dubbed the "Banksy of poetry" due to his somewhat cloaked identity. The book is about an amateur poet - also called Brian Bilston - who becomes prime suspect in the murder of a rival. The Costa judges called it “warm, comic and original”.
The poetry shortlist features Jay Bernard's analysis of the New Cross Fire of 1981, a house fire at a birthday party in south London in which 13 young black people died. The Metropolitan Police were accused of lacking urgency in their investigation. Surge is described as "fearless, original and moving".
The winners of the individual categories will be announced on 6 January. The overall winner of the £30,000 Costa book of the year prize will be revealed on 28 January.
The Costa Book Award shortlists 2019 are as follows:
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