BLACKMAN AND DOWNHAM ON SHORTLIST FOR 2019 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD
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This issue’s cover illustration is from A Shelter for Sadness by Anne Booth, illustrated by David Litchfield. Thanks to Templar Publishing for their help with this January cover.
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Send to friendFormer Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award, which was announced today, 26th November 2020. Alongside them on the list are newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing, both of whom are published by Chicken House.
The 2019 Costa Children’s Award shortlist
Asha & the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan (Chicken House)
The judges described the book which is Bilan’s debut and winner of the 2017 The Times Children’s Fiction Competition as: ‘Imaginative, magical, heartrending and hopeful.’
Crossfire by Malorie Blackman (Penguin Books)
Crossfire is the fifth novel in the Noughts & Crosses series, shortly to become a BBC TV series. The judges said: ‘A punchy, pacey, relevant and thought-provoking book for young and old alike.’
In the Shadow of Heroes by Nicholas Bowling (Chicken House)
This is Bowling’s second book and follows Witchborn. The judges described it as: ‘a richly-observed and intriguing rip-roaring ancient world adventure.
Furious Thing by Jenny Downham (David Fickling Books)
The judges said: ‘A fantastic British YA novel - real, honest and occasionally harrowing, but never without humanity.’
Jenny describes the process of writing Furious Thing in this special BfK article.
This year there were 144 entries for the Children’s Award and the judges are Charlotte Eyre, Children’s Editor, The Bookseller; author Bali Rai; and Danny van Emden, Children’s Buyer and Deputy Manager, West End Lane Books.
The winner will be announced on Monday 6th January 2020 and will receive £5,000. The winning book will then be considered for the 2019 Costa Book of the Year and a chance of winning a further £30,000 alongside the winners in the four other categories. The Book of the Year has twice been won by a children’s book: Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass in 2001, and The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge in 2015.