Poet wins U.K.’s Costa Book of the Year
Christopher Reid receives prize recognizing the "most enjoyable book" from the British Isles
Topics: Literary Prizes, Comic Books, Books, Entertainment News
Poet Christopher Reid was awarded Britain’s Costa Book of the Year Award on Tuesday with a poetry collection written in tribute to his late wife.
Reid’s “A Scattering” — inspired by his wife’s death from cancer in 2005 — beat four other finalists to the 30,000 pound ($48,426) prize, which aims to reward the most enjoyable book in the last year by writers based in the U.K. and Ireland.
“I’m delighted and bewildered to be the recipient of this important literary prize,” the 60-year-old said as he accepted the award in central London. “The book itself was difficult to write … It hasn’t quietened the grief but it’s helped me think more clearly.”
Judge Josephine Hart described Reid’s winning collection as “austere and beautiful and moving.” She compared Reid’s work to those by Thomas Hardy and W.B. Yeats, who were both inspired to write by personal tragedy.
“We feel that what Christopher Reid did was to take a personal tragedy and to make the emotion and the situation universal,” she said. “It is bizarrely life-enhancing because it speaks of the triumph of love before and after death.”
Hart said the judging panel arrived at the decision by a majority. The Book of the Year prize was chosen from five finalists, each already a winner of separate Costa genre awards — novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children’s book. Each category winner receives 5,000 pounds ($8,000).
More Related Stories
-
How Dan Savage lost it
-
Nancy Jo Sales on L.A. celeb robbers: "The Bling Ring kids were depressed"
-
“Arrested Development,” hurry up and get here so you can stop being so annoying
-
Must-do's: What we like this week
-
Josh Ritter makes his "Blood on the Tracks"
-
I don't hate millennials anymore!
-
What's 2013's "Gone Girl"? Here are this summer's best reads
-
Fox executive behind "Does Someone Have to Go?" leaving the network
-
Hillary Clinton memoir shows up on Amazon
-
A brief history of Jennifer Weiner's literary fights
-
First look: Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard shine in "The Immigrant”
-
No women allowed: Summer music festivals are dudefests, again
-
Vivica A. Fox tapes anti-gun PSA in front of poster for her movie
-
This is what Guy Fieri looks like as a balloon
-
Mariah Carey's rambling, cursing, dress-popping "Good Morning America" concert
-
Fox's new reality TV show threatens regular people with unemployment
-
Amanda Bynes arrested after hurling bong from window
-
Steamy lesbian-sex movie has Cannes abuzz
-
Stop what you're doing and go watch "Borgen"
-
Teenage girl claims she was beaten up for looking like Taylor Swift
-
Mike Judge: "Bowling for Columbine" made me pro-gun
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
Most Read
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
-
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
-
GOP: Party of crybabies
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
31 points32 points33 points | 2 comments
10 points11 points12 points | comment
Snooki Flaunts Tiny Waist In Sports Bra
'The Missing Picture' Collects Cannes' Un Certain Regard Prize
You Won't Believe Chris O'Donnell's Favorite Show
Is This The Tracklist To Kanye's 'Yeezus'?
Comments
0 Comments