Costa Book of the Year Posthumously Awarded to Helen Dunmore

The British poet, novelist, and children’s writer, Helen Dunmore, has been posthumously awarded the 2017 Costa Book of the Year Award for her tenth and final poetry collection, called Inside the Wave. The Costa Awards recognise writers from the UK and Ireland and the overall book of the year is selected from the winners of each category of novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children’s book.

As the BBC reports, Dunmore has been a published writer since the early 80’s when collections of her poems were released. She went on to write a number of novels, children’s books, young adult books, and short stories. She has received several awards and honours over the course of her career but sadly passed away last June after battling cancer.

The Costa Book Awards have taken place annually since 1971 and were previously known as the Whitbread Book Awards. Inside the Wave explores the thin line between the living and the dead and has been described by judges as “an astonishing set of poems – a final, great achievement”. The collection includes the poem Hold Out Your Arms, which was the last Dunmore wrote before she passed.

Winners across other categories in the Costa Book Awars were announced a few weeks ago and can be found here.

Inside the Wave US
Inside the Wave UK