Literary prizes these days are such smooth, glossy affairs, so the Londoner was half-relieved to hear that last night’s Costa book awards ceremony was fraught with tensions.
Nathan Filer was the surprise winner of the overall prize with Shock of the Fall, a novel about schizophrenia that was also his debut.
But whispers at the event at Quaglino’s were that the choice was far from unanimous. At a jittery final meeting, one judge refused to support Shock of the Fall, while chair Rose Tremain is known to have supported another book.
So who was not moved by Filer’s work? Of the eight judges, excluding Tremain, three sang the praises of the winner following the announcement — actress Natascha McElhone, singer Sharleen Spiteri and novelist Matthew Cain — leaving one of poet John Burnside, biographer Anne de Courcy, children’s author Emma Kennedy, presenter Richard Osman and Professor Gerard Woodward dissatisfied.
It didn’t stop there. Filer then failed to thank his publisher HarperCollins, de rigueur at such events. Are there hard feelings over the departure of his editor Louisa Joyner last year after she switched to Canongate?
With all that brewing, Costa’s managing director Chris Rogers deflected tensions in another direction, with a dig at the rival Man Booker awards. “Unlike one prize, we have no plans to open the award to Americans,” he said.
