Costa Book Awards 2010: Complete list of winners

The 2010 Costa Book Awards celebrated a remarkably eclectic mix of literary talent, showcasing how the British and Irish book world was stretching in exciting new directions. Edmund de Waal’s mesmerizing The Hare with Amber Eyes took the biography prize with its ingenious blend of personal memoir and art history, tracing a Japanese netsuke figurine through generations of his family. Meanwhile, Maggie O’Farrell’s intricate dual narrative The Hand That First Held Mine claimed the novel category, proving once again that intricate plotting and emotional depth could captivate the award’s judges. These wins, alongside victories in poetry, debut fiction, and children’s literature, reflected the Costa Book Awards’ commitment to recognizing excellence across the entire literary spectrum—not just the usual suspects in literary fiction.

What made this particular year of the Costa Awards especially interesting was the breakthrough success of debut novelist Kishwar Desai with Witness the Night, a darkly compelling psychological thriller that signaled a new generation of voices entering the conversation. Poetry, too, found a champion in Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability, while Jason Wallace’s young adult novel Out of Shadows demonstrated that children’s literature was evolving into something far more ambitious and unflinching than traditional categories might suggest. The 2010 Costa Book Awards winners, taken together, painted a portrait of British and Irish publishing at a moment of genuine creative ferment.

Below, discover the complete list of 2010 Costa Book Awards winners and finalists across all categories.

Biography

• The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

Children’s Book

• Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace

First Novel

• Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

Novel

• The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

Poetry

• Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott