Costa Book Awards: Mysterious Twitter writer, known as 'Banksy of poetry', nominated for debut novel

Debut novel of enigmatic writer announced as part of this year's nominations

Brian Bilston amassed a huge Twitter following after posting his poems to the social media site (Costa Book Awards)

The nominations for 2019’s Costa Book Awards have been announced.

The books in contention to win the £5,000 prize are Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor; Middle England by Jonathan Coe; Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach; and Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan.

The annual awards – which this year attracted the most entries to date (701) – also gives trophies for biographies, poetry and children’s books.

Brian Bilston, known as “the Banksy of poetry” due to his mysterious social media presence, has been nominated for the first Novel Award.

After joining Twitter to discover what everyone at work was talking about, he amassed a huge following due to the poetry he uploaded to the site.

His real name is unknown. Costa judges called his debut book Diary of a Somebody “warm, comic and original”.

Find the full list of nominations below.

Costa First Novel Award shortlist

Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston (Picador)

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams (Trapeze)

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins (Viking)

The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen (The Borough Press)

Costa Novel Award shortlist

Middle England by Jonathan Coe (Viking)

Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach (Head of Zeus)

Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan (Sceptre)

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)

Costa Biography Award shortlist

On Chapel Sands: My mother and other missing persons by Laura Cumming (Chatto & Windus)

The Volunteer: The True Story of the Resistance Hero who Infiltrated Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather (WH Allen)

In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum (Chatto & Windus)

The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and Their Year of Marvels by Adam Nicolson (William Collins)

Costa Poetry Award shortlist

Surge by Jay Bernard (Chatto & Windus)

Flèche by Mary Jean Chan (Faber & Faber)

The Mizzy by Paul Farley (Picador)

Reckless Paper Birds by John McCullough (Penned in the Margins)

Costa Children’s Award shortlist

Asha & the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan (Chicken House)

Crossfire by Malorie Blackman (Penguin Books)

In the Shadow of Heroes by Nicholas Bowling (Chicken House)

Furious Thing by Jenny Downham (David Fickling Books)

The winners will be announced on 6 January