'Poet laureate of Twitter' Brian Bilston shortlisted for Costa Book Awards

A debut novel by “the poet laureate of Twitter” has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award.

Brian Bilston, 49, posts his poems to more than 68,000 followers on the social media platform.

Diary Of A Somebody, about a man convinced that his New Year’s resolution, to write a poem every day, will change his life, made the Costa shortlist in the First Novel category.

Bilston “accidentally” notched up a career as a social media poet after crafting a “play on words” on Twitter into the 140-character constraint.

https://twitter.com/brian_bilston/status/1198158725254668289

Accidental poet

He “never intended” to be a poet, saying: “A poet to my mind was someone of intensity, a serious type, the kind of person you wouldn’t want to get trapped in a kitchen with at a party”.

Judges said his first novel “gently pokes fun at the everyday, from bin collections to the cut and thrust of the poetry world. Warm, comic and original.”

His book competes against Queenie, by bestselling debut author Candice Carty-Williams.

Her novel, following the romantic misadventures of a young black British woman, is also shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year.

The 2019 awards also gives prizes for novel, biography, poetry and children’s book.

‘Fearless and moving’

The poetry shortlist features an analysis of the New Cross Fire of 1981, a house fire at a birthday party in south London in which 13 young black people died.

The Metropolitan Police were accused of lacking urgency in their investigation.

Surge, by film programmer and archivist Jay Bernard, is described as “fearless, original and moving”.

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Authors Jonathan Coe, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Sophie Hardach and Joseph O’Connor are shortlisted in the novel award category.

This year’s Costa Book Awards attracted 701 entries, the most received in one year to date.

As well as category winners, the overall winner of the 2019 Costa Book Of The Year receives £30,000.

The winners are announced in January.

Costa Book Awards 2019 Shortlist

First Novel

• Diary Of A Somebody by Brian Bilston
• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
• The Confessions Of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
• The Other Half Of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen

Novel

• Middle England by Jonathan Coe
• Confession With Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach
• Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
• Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor

Biography

• On Chapel Sands: My Mother And Other Missing Persons by Laura Cumming
• The Volunteer: The True Story Of The Resistance Hero Who Infiltrated Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather
• In Extremis: The Life Of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum
• The Making Of Poetry: Coleridge, The Wordsworths And Their Year of Marvels by Adam Nicolson

Poetry

• Surge by Jay Bernard
• Fleche by Mary Jean Chan
• The Mizzy by Paul Farley
• Reckless Paper Birds by John McCullough

Childrens

• Asha & the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan
• Crossfire by Malorie Blackman
• In The Shadow Of Heroes by Nicholas Bowling
• Furious Thing by Jenny Downham