Press Release: Prizes and Awards
Andrew Miller Wins 2011 Costa Book Of The Year
Posted at 9:37PM Tuesday 24 Jan 2012
Novelist Andrew Miller has won the 2011 Costa Book of the Year, his first major literary award, for his sixth novel, Pure. Set in pre-revolutionary Paris in 1785, Pure is the story of Jean-Baptiste Baratte, an ambitious young engineer, who is assigned the task of emptying the noxious, overflowing Parisian cemetery Les Innocents, and of demolishing its church. The announcement was made this evening (Tuesday 24th January) at an awards ceremony held at Quaglino's in central London. Miller beat bookmakers' odds-on favourite, poet and debut biographer Matthew Hollis for his work Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy for The Bees, debut writer, Christie Watson, for Tiny Sunbirds Far Away and first-time author, Moira Young, for Blood Red Road, to win the overall prize and a cheque for £30,000 at the awards ceremony. Following the judging, Geordie Greig, chair of the final judges, said: "Pure is a rich and evocative historical novel which engrosses with its vivid portrait of pre-revolutionary France. The qualities of Pure stood out for its memorable gothic tale of morality and mortality." Greig chaired a final judging panel that included actor and comedian Hugh Dennis, actress Dervla Kirwan, broadcaster Mary Nightingale, novelist Patrick Gale, author Jojo Moyes, historical biographer Flora Fraser, author William Fiennes and children's writer, Eleanor Updale. The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Originally established by Whitbread PLC in 1971, Costa announced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK's prestigious and popular book prize in 2006. 2011 marks the 40th year of the Book Awards which, due to its unique category system, has seen 187 awards being given to writers since its launch in 1971, including literary giants such as Iris Murdoch, Roald Dahl, Ian McEwan, JK Rowling, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Philip Pullman, Salman Rushdie, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, William Boyd, Michael Morpurgo and Beryl Bainbridge. Pure, published by Sceptre, is the tenth novel to take the overall prize. Irish novelist Sebastian Barry was the last author to win the Book of the Year with a novel. He took the prize in 2008 for The Secret Scripture which went on to sell over 300,000 copies and has become the fastest-selling book in the history of Faber and Faber. Since the introduction of the Book of the Year award in 1985, it has been won ten 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.
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