Costa Book Awards' shortlists announced

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Hilary Mantel,James Meek, Stephen May and Joff Winterhart have been shortlisted for bestnovel for the Costa Book Awards.
The awards showcase published works from the lastyear.
Winners for first novel, novel, biography, poetry andchildren's book will each win £5,000 and will be announced on 2 January 2013.
The overall winner, who gets £30,000 for book of theyear, will be revealed at a ceremony on 29 January.
Nominees have to be based in the UK or Ireland.
Since the overall prize was introduced in 1985, ithas been won predominantly by novelists and poets, with Andrew Miller scoopingit last year for his fictional story Pure, about an engineer namedJean-Baptiste Baratte working in a Parisian cemetery in the run-up to theFrench Revolution.
The winner of the inaugural Costa short story award,which is voted for by the public, will also be announced at the ceremony.
Voted for by the public, six stories will be unveiledon the Costa BookAwards official site two days before the ceremony, on 27 January.
Newaddition
Graphic works have been included in the shortlistsfor the first time this year.
Joff Winterhart's Days of the Bagnold Summer ismentioned in the novel category while graphic memoir Dotter of her Father'sEyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot in the biography list.
Winterhart is up against the 2012 Man Booker Prizewinner Hilary Mantel for her book Bring Up The Bodies and they face competitionfrom Stephen May for Life! Death! Prizes! and James Meek for The Heart BrokeIn.
In the poetry category, newcomer Sean Borodale hasbeen nominated for his debut full-length collection Bee Journal. He is pittedagainst award-winning poets Julia Copus, Selima Hill and Kathleen Jamie.
JW Ironmonger, the author of The Good Zoo Guide, hasbeen voted in the first novel category for The Notable Brain of MaximilianPonder, alongside a former singer-songwriter Jess Richards for Snakes Ropes,Francesca Segal for The Innocents and Benjamin Wood for The BellwetherRevivals.
The children's book nominees are debut writer andillustrator Dave Shelton, Diana Hendry, who won the Whitbread children's novelaward in 1991, former set and costume designer Sally Gardner and teen fictionwriter Hayley Long.
Costa took over sponsorship of the book awards in2006, 33 years after it was established by Whitbread Plc.
To be eligible, books have to have been firstpublished in the UK or Ireland between 1 November 2011 and 31 October 2012.
Three judges per category are in place to choose thewinners out of a total of 550 entries.
They include author and comedian Mark Watson, writersWendy Holden, Marcus Sedgwick and Matt Whyman, actress and broadcaster JanetEllis, novelist and Editor-in-Chief of Red Magazine, Sam Baker, poet DaljitNagra and novelist and biographer, DJ Taylor.
Source: BBC
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