Posted on January 26, 2021 at 4:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

It’s been a big week for literature over in England, with both the T.S. Eliot Prize and Costa Book of the Year being revealed. 

First came the T.S. Eliot Prize, which went to Bhanu Kapil’s poetry collection How to Wash a Heart.

Judges called the work, which describes the dynamic between an immigrant and her white host, “radical and arresting,” reports the Guardian.

The T.S. Eliot Prize honors the year’s best new poetry collection written in English and is Britain’s most prestigious award for poetry.

Next came the Costa Book of the Year selection: The Mermaid of Black Conch, by Monique Roffey.

Based on a legend from the Taino, an indigenous people of the Caribbean, the novel tells the story of a woman cursed to spend centuries as a mermaid and the fisherman she encounters.

The judging panel's chair described it as "utterly original – unlike anything we’ve ever read," reports the Guardian.

The Costa Book Awards go to what judges deem the most outstanding books of the year written by UK- or Ireland-based authors.

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Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Awards, Poetry, The Guardian

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