Costa book awards Helen Dunmore wins Costa book of the year for Inside the Wave Winning for her final poetry collection, written in the last weeks of her life, Dunmore is only the second posthumous winner in the literary prize’s history Helen Dunmore, pictured in 2009. Photograph: Lehtikuva OY / Rex FeaturesThe poet and author Helen Dunmore, who died in June 2017, has been awarded the Costa book of the year for her final poetry collection, Inside the Wave. After her death, the collection was updated to include the poem Hold Out Your Arms, written just 10 days before she died. It is so personal and so wonderful, we hope it will touch a lot people who face this thing that we all do.”Facebook Twitter Pinterest Patrick, Tess and Frank Charnley, family of the late British poet and author Helen Dunmore at the 2018 Costa book awards. There are five categories – novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children’s book – with the winner of each vying for the overall £30,000 book of the year prize.

Source: The Guardian January 30, 2018 19:39 UTC