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Costa Book Awards 2020

The 2020 Costa Book Awards went to The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence (Biography), The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey (Book of the Year) and Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant (Children's), with winners in 3 more categories. 21 books made the shortlist across 6 categories.

Winners

Biography

  1. The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrencesource (opens in a new tab)

Book of the Year

  1. The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffeysource (opens in a new tab)

Children's

  1. Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrantsource (opens in a new tab)

First Novel

  1. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaudsource (opens in a new tab)

Novel

  1. The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffeysource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. The Historians by Eavan Bolandsource (opens in a new tab)

Shortlist

Biography

  1. Dear Life by Rachel Clarkesource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadow Play by Jeff Youngsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnessource (opens in a new tab)

Children's

  1. The Great Godden by Meg Rosoffsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates by Jenny Pearsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Wranglestone by Darren Charltonsource (opens in a new tab)

First Novel

  1. All the Water in the World by Karen Raneysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallensource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Family Tree by Sairish Hussainsource (opens in a new tab)

Novel

  1. Peace Talks by Tim Finchsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Piranesi by Susanna Clarkesource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Less Dead by Denise Minasource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. Citadel by Martha Spracklandsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. My Darling from the Lions by Rachel Longsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Air Year by Caroline Birdsource (opens in a new tab)

About the Costa Book Awards

Whitbread Book Awards until 2005; Costa from 2006. The awards ended after 2021. Sources: web.archive.org snapshots of official costa.co.uk pages only - past-shortlists PDFs (2018 and 2022 editions), past-winners-2019-end PDF, and the behind-the-beans/costa-book-awards/book-awards page (2020 winners, 2021 shortlists, winners and Book of the Year). Wikipedia used only as a cross-check. The 2010 Biography shortlist had 3 books, not 4. No category was missing or merged in 2006-2021.

Organization: Costa Coffee. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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