Helen Dunmore has posthumously been awarded the Costa Prize for Poetry for her Bloodaxe collection Inside the Wave.
Dunmore, who passed away in June 2017 aged 64, wrote 10 poetry collections and 12 novels. Inside the Wave explores her terminal cancer diagnosis.
Poetry category Judge Moniza Alvi remarked: “These are poems that can connect us with each other, at a deeper level,” she said. “It is not an austere book. The truths are sharp and they’re not comfortable, yet they are also life-affirming and beautiful.”
Other category winners included:
Novel: Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (4th Estate)
First novel: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (HarperCollins)
Biography: In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott (4th Estate)
Poetry: Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore (Bloodaxe Books)
Children’s Book: The Explorers by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
The Costa Book of the Year will be chosen by category judges Moniza Alvi, Simon Garfield, Freya North, Sophie Raworth and Piers Torday, British Vogue editor Laura Bailey, presenter Fern Britton and actor Art Malik. The winner will be announced on 30 January.
PBS Members can order copies of Inside the Wave with 25% discount here.