Costa Book of the Year – Surprise!
The strong favorite amongst literary pundits and bookies to win the 2009 Costa Book of the Year Award, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, has been trumped by poet Christopher Reid’s A Scattering. A poet hasn’t scooped this major prize since Seamus Heaney won in 1999 for his triumphant new translation of Beowulf. Reid pockets the tidy sum of around $48,000 as well as the knowledge that folks like me are now googling around furiously to find out more about him, and eager to read his work.
I must admit to feeling rather relieved, as I seem to be one of the few who did not fall in love with Brooklyn. The strongest element in Toibin’s work was his visceral understanding of the alienation the emigrant feels on returning home, but, well, you can read my thoughts….