Novelist Barry triumphs at Costa Book Awards
Irish novelist Sebastian Barry has triumphed in the Novel Award category for The Secret Scripture at the Costa Book Awards.

The book will now compete with four other titles for the 2008 Costa Book of the Year award, which will be announced in London on January 27th.

The other successful authors who will compete for the award are Sadie Jones, whose bestselling debut novel, The Outcast , scooped the Costa First Novel Award, Diana Athill, who won the Costa Biography Award for her memoir, Somewhere Towards the End, Michelle Magorian, who won the Children’s Book Award for Just Henry and Adam Foulds who edged out Irish poet Ciaran Carson to win the Poetry award with The Broken Word .

Bookies William Hill have placed Barry at 2-1 favourite to win the overall award. The winner in each prize category receives £5,000 while the overall winner of the Book of the Year award takes home a further £25,000, making a total prize fund of £50,000. Barry fought off tough competition to triumph in the Novel Award category.

Other books shortlisted for the prize included The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernières and Trauma by Patrick McGrath. The judges in the category, which included Irish actress and author Pauline McLynn, described The Secret Scripture as "a heartbreaking and lyrical tale of loss, betrayal and redemption".

The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Originally established in 1971 by Whitbread , Costa announced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK’s popular and prestigious book prize in 2006. Since the introduction of the Book of the Year award in 1985, it has been won eight 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.

The Costa Book of the Year will be selected by a panel of judges chaired by columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris and including Rosamund Pike, Michael Buerk, Alexander Armstrong and Andrea Catherwood.
© 2009 irishtimes.com

And link here for The Guardian's coverage of the Awards.

And here for an extract from Sebastian Barry's excellent novel.

And Bookman Beattie's review from 30 July, 2008, reviewed on Radio New Zealand.