LooseLeaves Caroline WalshThe big surprise of the Costa Book Awards - once the Whitbread - announced on Tuesday was the win by little-known poet John Haynes.
He took the poetry award for Letter to Patience, published by the independent Welsh publishing house, Seren. Set in a small mud-walled bar in northern Nigeria at a time of political unrest, it is a book-length poem divided into cantos. It has been described as an epic portrayal of a beautiful but troubled country and of one man's search for meaning in difficult times.
Haynes lectured in English at the Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria for almost 20 years until 1988 and founded a literary journal there, Saiwa. Now back in England, he is the author of books on teaching, style, language theory and African poetry, as well as stories for African children and two other volumes poetry. The judges, who included poet Elaine Feinstein, chose it from a shortlist that included Seamus Heaney, Vicki Feaver and Hugo Williams. They said it had been a unanimous choice and a clear winner, describing it as "a unique long poem of outstanding quality, condensing a lifetime of reflection and experience into a work of transporting momentum, imaginative lucidity, and consummate formal accomplishment".
Haynes, who won £5,000 (€7,470), now goes forward with the other category winners to contend for the £25,000 (€37,600) Costa Book of the Year Award on February 7th. Costa, the coffee-shop chain, took over the awards last year.
The novel award went to William Boyd for Restless, 25 years after he won the first novel award for A Good Man in Africa. According to the judges: "Restless remains in the mind long after you finish it . . . its scenes of wartime tension, the smell of espionage and the consequences of deceitful lives."
For those who believe the success of victimhood biographies has gone too far, there will be a special welcome for Keeping Mum by Brian Thompson, which won the biography award. It is a witty account of the author's childhood, hailed by the judges as "a perfect antidote to the misery memoir".
The first novel award went to The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, a recovered agoraphobic who, although she had never been to Canada, created a crime tale set there in the 19th century. She researched the book at the British Library. Linda Newbery, who was once a judge for the awards, won the children's award with Set in Stone.
All eyes will now be on the announcement of the winner of the TS Eliot Prize in London next Monday, for which Paul Muldoon's Horse Latitudes joins Heaney's District and Circle on a shortlist that includes Simon Armitage, Paul Farley, WN Herbert, Jane Hirshfield, Tim Liardet, Robin Robertson, Penelope Shuttle and Hugo Williams.
Ross tops bestseller list, roysh
Ross O'Carroll-Kelly has his eye firmly on the Man Booker Prize after his latest book, Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade, was named by Nielsen Bookscan as the No 1 bestselling novel in Ireland in 2006. Nielsen says the novel sold 39,339 copies. In a year that saw bestselling authors such as Cecelia Ahern and John Grisham produce new books, it's quite an achievement for a series that began with a small cult following. The reaction of Ross and alter ego Paul Howard? "Who knows what could come from this? . . . If there's any universities who want to give me, like, an honorary degree, I'm happy to accept. I've no pride - sure I've already got one in sports management from UCD." Describing himself as a happy bunny, he adds however: "If Michael Cheika is reading this, don't think my success in the literary world means I'm giving up rugby for good. I'm still available to do a job for you at number 10. Drico has my number."
Penguin Ireland publishes his next book, Guide to South Dublin: How to Get by on €10,000 a Day, in June.
Cavan plugs its literary past
Cavan is drawing on its literary provenance to enhance the Caomhnú Literary Festival, which runs in the town from February 1st to 4th. In summing up the literary heritage of Co Cavan, the arts office of Cavan County Council reaches back to the 16th century and one Bishop William Bedell, who translated the Scriptures into Irish. Jonathan Swift, it adds, wrote Gulliver's Travels there, while the family of Edgar Allen Poe had roots in Killeshandra and Henry James's grandparents came from Bailieborough. The theme of the festival is landscape, a sense of place and the Bréifne region. Evelyn Conlon, Shane Connaughton, Dermot Healy, Rita Kelly and Noel Monahan are among those taking part.
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