2007 Costa Book Award Winner

DUNDEE-born novelist and short-story writer A.L. Kennedy has been adjudged the overall winner of the 2007 Costa Book Award with her fifth novel, Day (Jonathan Cape, 2007). The same novel has also been shortlisted for the Clare Maclean Prize, a brand-new award given to the Scottish writer who has written the best novel in the previous year. However, she is up against some stiff competition from former Whitbread winners Ali Smith for Girl Meets Boy (Canongate, 2007) and Alasdair Gray for Old Men in Love (Bloomsbury, 2007). Other writers in the running for the same prize include Iain Banks for The Steep Approach to Garbadale (Little, Brown, 2007), John Burnside for The Devil’s Footprint (Jonathan Cape, 2007) and Dan Rhodes for Gold (Canongate, 2007).

The winner of the Clare Maclean Prize will be announced on March 15, 2008, in Glasgow