Press
Press Release
01/22/2008
A.L. KENNEDY WINS 2007 COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR
Scottish author and stand-up comedian A.L. Kennedy has won the 2007 Costa Book of the Year award for her fifth novel, Day; the story of a former RAF prisoner-of-war returning to Germany to confront his demons. The announcement was made this evening (Tuesday 22nd January) at an awards ceremony held at The Intercontinental Hotel in central London.
The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Originally established by Whitbread PLC in 1971, Costa announced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK's popular and prestigious book prize in 2006.
Despite a morbid fear of flying, Kennedy interrupted her American tour to fly back to the UK for 24 hours to attend the awards ceremony. The Glasgow-based author spent three years researching the book, which tells of British PoW and Lancaster tailgunner Alfred Day, trying to cope with civilian life in 1949.
In one of the most open contests since the Book of the Year award was introduced in 1985, A.L. Kennedy beat best-selling biographer, Simon Sebag Montefiore for Young Stalin, first-time novelist Catherine O'Flynn for What Was Lost, poet Jean Sprackland for Tilt and children's writer Ann Kelley for The Bower Bird for the overall prize.
Costa's Managing Director, John Derkach, presented Kennedy with a cheque for ?25,000 at the glittering awards ceremony.
Day, published by Jonathan Cape, is the eighth novel to take the overall prize. Andrea Levy was the last author to win the Book of the Year with a novel taking the prize in 2004 for Small Island.
Since the introduction of the Book of the Year award in 1985, it has been won seven times by a novel, four times by a first novel, five times by a biography, five times by a collection of poetry and once by a children's book.
For more information please visit http://www.costabookawards.com.
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For further press information or to arrange an interview with the winning author, please contact:
Amanda Johnson
Costa Book Awards Press and Publicity
Telephone: 020 7751 2111 (direct line) or 07715 922180 (mobile)
Email: amanda@amandajohnsonpr.com
Or
Laura Hassan
Jonathan Cape
Email: lhassan@randomhouse.co.uk
Telephone: 0207 840 8400
Notes for Editors:
1. The Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Book Awards, were established in 1971 to encourage, promote and celebrate the best contemporary British writing.
2. The total prize fund for the Costa Book Awards stands at ?50,000. The award winners from the five categories - Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book - each receive ?5,000.
3. The overall Costa Book of the Year is selected from the five category Award winners with the winner receiving a further ?25,000.
4. To be eligible for the 2007 awards, books must have been first published in the UK or Ireland between 1 November 2006 and 31 October 2007.
5. The 2006 winner of the Costa Book of the Year was Stef Penney for The Tenderness of Wolves (Quercus).
About Costa:
* Costa is officially the largest and fastest-growing coffee shop brand in the UK.
* Costa was founded by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971. With 660 stores in the UK and over 220 internationally, Costa has enjoyed a remarkable period of growth since it opened its first store. It now operates in 20 countries.
* Costa's in-store baristas are all coached in the art of coffee making at the company's unique Costa Coffee Academy based at its own roastery in Lambeth, London.
* Costa won the 2007 award for Best International Franchise Operator.
* Costa is part of the Whitbread family of brands.
Further Background
Day by A.L. Kennedy
Jonathan Cape
About the book:
Alfred Day wanted his war. In its turmoil he found his proper purpose as the tail-gunner in a Lancaster bomber; he found the wild, dark fellowship of his crew, and he found Joyce, a woman to love. But that's all gone now ? the war took it away. Now, in 1949, Alfred is winding back time to see where he lost himself. He has taken the role of an extra in a POW film. Shipped out to Germany and an ersatz camp, he picks his way through the clich?s that will become all that's left of his war and begins to do what he's never dared ? to remember. He is looking for some semblance of hope: trying to move forward by going back.
About the author:
Dundee-born A.L. Kennedy is a novelist and stand-up comedian. She has published four previous novels, two books of non-fiction, and three collections of short stories, most recently Indelible Acts. She also writes for the stage, radio, film and TV. She has twice (1995 & 2005) been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and has won a number of prizes including the Somerset Maugham award, the Encore Award and the 2007 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year award. In November, she became the first Scottish writer to win the prestigious American Lannan award. A.L. Kennedy lives in Glasgow and is an Associate Professor with the Warwick University Creative Writing Programme. She is currently working on new short stories and three films including an adaptation of Day with the writer of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
What the judges said:
"Although it could have been any one of our shortlist of four, we chose A.L. Kennedy as our winner because, through an extraordinary act of ventriloquism, she describes the waste and eventual resurrection of a young life shattered by war. This book is a masterpiece."
Judges
Sam Leith - Literary Editor, Daily Telegraph
Nigel Rees - Writer and Broadcaster
Polly Samson - Author and Lyricist
Shortlist, selected from a total of 150 entries:
Neil Bartlett - Skin Lane - Serpent's Tail
Rupert Thomson - Death of a Murderer - Bloomsbury
Rose Tremain - The Road Home - Chatto & Windus
Previous Novel Award winners include:
William Boyd - Restless - 2006
Ali Smith - The Accidental - 2005
Andrea Levy - Small Island - 2004
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - 2003
Michael Frayn - Spies - 2002
Previous Winners of the Book of the Year
2006 The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney (First Novel)
2005 Matisse: the Master - Hilary Spurling (Biography)
2004 Small Island - Andrea Levy (Novel)
2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon (Novel)
2002 Samuel Pepys:The Unequalled Self - Claire Tomalin (Biography)
2001 The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman (Children's Book)
2000 English Passengers - Matthew Kneale (Novel)
1999 Beowulf - Seamus Heaney (Poetry)
1998 Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes (Poetry)
1997 Tales from Ovid - Ted Hughes (Poetry)
1996 The Spirit Level - Seamus Heaney (Poetry)
1995 Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson (First Novel)
1994 Felicia's Journey - William Trevor (Novel)
1993 Theory of War - Joan Brady (Novel)
1992 Swing Hammer Swing! - Jeff Torrington (First Novel)
1991 A Life of Picasso - John Richardson (Biography)
1990 Hopeful Monsters - Nicholas Mosley (Novel)
1989 Coleridge: Early Visions - Richard Holmes (Biography)
1988 The Comforts of Madness - Paul Sayer (First Novel)
1987 Under the Eye of the Clock - Christopher Nolan (Biography)
1986 An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (Novel)
1985 Elegies - Douglas Dunn (Poetry)
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