Two Scots writers in running for the Costa Book Awards

TWO Scottish writers are in the running for one of Britain’s leading literary awards.

Scots author Kate Atkinson. Picture: David Moir

Edinburgh-based Kate Atkinson is in the running for the Costa Novel Award again two years after she previously claimed the title.

It was claimed by another Scot, Ali Smith, 12 months later.

A God In Ruins, Atkinson’s time-travelling follow-up to the 2013 winner Life After Life, explores the life of RAF bomber pilot Teddy Todd.

Atkinson, the creator of private investigator Jackson Brodie, whose exploits were turned into the exploits on Edinburgh-set TV series Case Histories, had won the same prize in its previous guise as the Whitbread Novel of the Year back in 1995 with Behind The Scenes at the Museum.

Dundee-born poet Don Paterson, who is also a composer and musician, has also made the Costa Poetry Award shortlist for his 40 Sonnets collection.

He won the Whitbread Poetry Award in 2003 for his book Landing Light.

The Costa Book Awards, which date back to 1971, are only open to authors based in the UK and Ireland.

This year they attracted 638 entries across the five categories, which also include best first novel, best biography and best children’s book.

All five winners, who will be announced in January, will go on to compete for the honour of Costa Book of the Year, which comes with a £30,000 prize.

FULL SHORTLISTS FOR COSTA BOOK AWARDS

Costa Novel Award

Kate Atkinson for A God in Ruins (Doubleday)

Anne Enright The Green Road (Jonathan Cape)

Patrick Gale for A Place Called Winter (Tinder Press)

Melissa Harrison for At Hawthorn Time (Bloomsbury)

Costa First Novel Award

Sara Baume for Spill Simmer Falter Wither (Windmill Books)

Kate Hamer for The Girl in the Red Coat (Faber & Faber)

Andrew Michael Hurley for The Loney (John Murray)

Tasha Kavanagh for Things We Have in Common (Canongate)

Costa Biography Award

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst for The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland (Harvill Secker)

Thomas Harding for The House by the Lake (William Heinemann)

Ruth Scurr for John Aubrey: My Own Life (Chatto & Windus)

Andrea Wulf for The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science (John Murray)

Costa Poetry Award

Andrew McMillan for Physical (Jonathan Cape)

Kate Miller for The Observances (Carcanet)

Don Paterson for 40 Sonnets (Faber & Faber)

Neil Rollinson for Talking Dead (Jonathan Cape)

Costa Children’s Book Award

Frances Hardinge for The Lie Tree (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Hayley Long for Sophie Someone (Hot Key Books)

Sally Nicholls for An Island of Our Own (Scholastic)

Andrew Norriss for Jessica’s Ghost (David Fickling Books)