2021 Costa First Novel Award shortlist
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking)
The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore (Granta)
Fault Lines by Emily Itami (Phoenix)
The Stranding by Kate Sawyer (Coronet)

2021 Costa Novel Award shortlist
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (Fig Tree)
The High Horse by Jessie Greengrass (Swift Press)
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (Viking)
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Viking)

2021 Costa Biography Award shortlist
Consumed: A Sister’s Story  by Arifa Akbar (Sceptre)
The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest by Ed Caesar (Viking)
Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (Viking)
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi (Allen Lane)

2021 Costa Poetry Award shortlist
All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus (Picador)
A Blood Condition by Kayo Chingonyi (Chatto & Windus)
Ear or We Both Starve  by Victoria Kennefick (Carcanet Press)
The Kids by Hannah Lowe (Bloodaxe Books)

2021 Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist
Maggie Blue and the Dark World by Anna Goodall (Guppy Books)
The Crossing by Manjeet Mann (Penguin)
The Midnight Guardians by Ross Montgomery (Walker Books)
The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh by Helen Rutter (Scholastic UK)
 

Key dates for the 2021 awards

• Close of entry: Wednesday 30th June 2021

• Category Shortlists announced: Tuesday 23rd November 2021

• Category Winners announced: Tuesday 4th January 2022

• Costa Book of the Year announced: Tuesday 1st February 2022

For further information visit the Costa Book Awards website.