THREE IRISH AUTHORS have been nominated for prizes in the Costa Book Awards.
In total, 20 authors have made the shortlist across five categories.
Dublin native Karl Geary – who moved to New York when he was 16 – is shortlisted for the First Novel Award, for his book Montpelier Parade.
The judges called it a “beautifully-written story about the pain and wonder of love found in unexpected places”.
Sarah Crossan is up for the Children’s Book Award, for her work Moonrise.
It tells the story of Joe and his brother Ed, who is on death row and the relationship between them.
The judges called it “an exceptional, compelling book for our time – its analysis is devastating but its message is hope”.
Crossan currently lives in Hertfordshire in England.
Rounding off the Irish nominations is Sineád Morrissey, who is up for the Poetry Award for her collection On Balance.
According to its description, the collection “revisits some of the great feats of human engineering to reveal the states of balance and imbalance that have shaped our history”.
Morrissey was born in 1972 and grew up in Belfast. She studied at Trinity College and is currently head of the Creative Writing programme at Newcastle University.
The judges said of her work:
This collection appropriately strikes a balance between technical mastery and range and depth of enquiry.
The Costa Book Awards is the only major UK book prize open only to authors resident in Britain and Ireland.
Winners in each category receive £5,000 award. The overall winner of the 2017 Costa Book of the Year receives £30,000.
Last year, Irish author Sebastian Barry scooped the top prize for his book Days Without End.
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