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Poet wins Costa Book of the Year prize after 'heated debate' among judges
Tom Harper26 Jan 2011
The choice of winner of the Costa Book of the Year triggered a row among the judging panel, it emerged today.
Jo Shapcott's Of Mutability - a slim volume of poetry inspired by her battle with breast cancer - was the surprise winner of the literary prize, beating odds-on favourite The Hare With Amber Eyes, the critically-acclaimed family memoir by Edmund de Waal.
Broadcaster and publisher Andrew Neil, who chaired the judging panel, revealed that the judges had felt a "lot of anguish" over awarding the prize to a collection of poems for the second year running.
He said: "There was quite a lot of robust argument over choosing a poetry book - many wanted to prefer a novel. We were aware poetry is not everyone's first choice but most of us felt if someone was uncertain about poetry they would get this book in their hands and fall in love with it."
One of the judges, actor David Morrissey, told the Standard: "I have been on several acting juries at the Baftas and other film festivals where things have been thrown. This was a literary prize so of course it was more civilised but there was certainly some heated debate."
Newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and broadcaster Anneka Rice were also on the judging panel.
In her first book for more than a decade, Shapcott's verse reflects on her recovery from breast cancer and explores themes including mortality and the fragile relationship between her body and the world. Eventually, the judges decided the poems pipped Maggie O'Farrell's novel, The Hand That First Held Mine.
Last year, poet Christopher Reid won the Costa Book of the Year for A Scattering.
