Here are the nominees for the 2021 Costa Book Awards

The shortlists for the Costa Book Awards came out earlier this week.

The following books are competing for the recognition as “most enjoyable” in their categories.

Each book must be from a writer based in England or Ireland.

Category winners will be revealed January 4, and the overall winner — who receives £30,000 (about $40,000) — will be announced February 1.

First novel

• Open Water, by Caleb Azumah Nelson

• The Manningtree Witches, by AK Blakemore

• Fault Lines, by Emily Itami

• The Stranding, by Kate Sawyer

Novel 

• Unsettled Ground, by Claire Fuller 

• The High House, by Jessie Greengrass 

• The Fortune Men, by Nadifa Mohamed 

• The Island Of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak

Biography

• Consumed: A Sister’s Story, by Arifa Akbar 

• The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest, by Ed Caesar 

• Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, by John Preston 

• Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, by Lea Ypi 

Poetry award

• All the Names Given, by Raymond Antrobus

• A Blood Condition, by Kayo Chingonyi 

• Eat or We Both Starve, by Victoria Kennefick 

• The Kids, by Hannah Lowe 

Children’s

• Maggie Blue and the Dark World, by Anna Goodall 

• The Crossing, by Manjeet Mann 

• The Midnight Guardians, by Ross Montgomery 

• The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh, by Helen Rutter