HASTA A VISTA, COSTA

The inhabitants of WM Towers have shed a few tears at the demise of the Costa Awards, which had a fifty-year history of supporting and showcasing wonderful and brilliant books, many of which were by new and independently published authors – both of which we’re all about championing from our book-lined eyrie here at WM. As just one example, Caleb Azumah’s debut Open Water, which was already scheduled as a Waterstones Book of the Month, went on to be Waterstones’ second-most successful debut ever, because of its Costa win.

And then there’s the 2020 Costa Novel of the Year winner, Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch, published by the indie Peepal Tree Press. ‘When it was shortlisted I was astonished, when it won novel of the year I was dumbfounded and when it won novel of the year I was flabbergasted.’ Monique told The Guardian. ‘I still am. None of the mainstream publishers would touch me... they think that middle-class readers who, like it or not, are the main book buyers, are never going to enjoy a book written in creole by a white Trinidadian about a black mermaid, but that’s not true. The Costas mainstreamed a book that had been excluded.’

The Costas started life as the Whitbread Awards back in 1971, with judges including Margaret Drabble. Book of the Year winners include Kate Atkinson for her debut,

Behind the Scenes at the Museum and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman – the first children’s novel to win. The Costa Short Story Award launched in 2012. There have been some wonderful winners. Cheers, Costa. You’ve done great things, and drawn attention to a lot of good books that might have been overlooked without you. We’ll miss you. You’ve been grand.