Athill wins Costa prize for biography

Nonagenarian Diana Athill has won Costa prize for 'Somewhere Towards The End'

London, Jan 07: Nonagenarian Diana Athill, one of the oldest British authors, has won the prestigious Costa prize in the biography category for her book "Somewhere Towards The End".The judges called Athill`s book "a perfect memoir of old age - candid, detailed, charming, totally lacking in self-pity or sentimentality and above all, beautifully written".

The other winners of the Costa awards, which was given by Whitbread Plcs Costa coffee-shop chain to promote contemporary British and Irish writing, were Dublin resident Sebastian Barry, whose book "The Secret Scripture," the study of a blighted life, won the best novel prize and Michelle Magorian who won the children`s book award with "Just Henry". Besides, Sadie Jones won the award of best first novel for his book "The Outcast" and Adam Foulds won the poetry prize for "The Broken Word". All the five authors received a cash award of 5,000 pounds (UDS 7,300) each and will now compete for the 25,000-pound Costa Book of the Year prize, to be awarded on January 27. In an interview with The Guardian, Athill admitted she was hoping to win saying, "I`m always terribly broke, and how wonderful it would be to get that lovely cheque." Bureau Report