Booker winner Mantel vies for Costa Book Award

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Hilary Mantel, who won the coveted Booker Prize for "Wolf Hall" set in the court of Henry VIII, is in the running for the Costa Book Awards after nominees were announced on Tuesday.

Mantel, 57, is one of four authors shortlisted for the novel award. The others are Penelope Lively for "Family Album", Christopher Nicholson ("The Elephant Keeper") and Colm Toibin ("Brooklyn").

The Costa awards, known as the Whitbread awards until sponsorship changed in 2006, give prizes in five categories -- first novel, novel, biography, poetry and children's book.

The category winners will be announced on Jan. 5, 2010 and the overall winner is selected on Jan. 26 next year at the main awards ceremony.

Last year's winner was the novel "The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry, which triumphed despite being described by the judges as "flawed in many ways".

Category winners receive 5,000 pounds ($8,300) and the overall winner gets 25,000 pounds. The awards honour the most enjoyable book in each category, and works published in the last year by writers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland qualify.

Two of the 20 listed writers were nominated posthumously -- Simon Gray for "Coda", the final volume of his acclaimed "Smoking Diaries" completed before he died in 2008 aged 71, and Siobhan Dowd for "Solace of the Road" in the children's section.

Following is a full list of the nominees:

2009 Costa Novel Award