Costa Children's Book Award Winner 2011

COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNER 2011

About the book:

Blood Red Road is set in a lawless future land, where life is cheap and survival is hard. Saba’s twin brother is stolen by mysterious, black-robed riders. She sets out on a desperate journey to find him. Ahead lie violence and treachery, and Saba will need a spirit as tough as her crossbow to survive. But her companions are the cleverest bird that ever flew, and a handsome thief with eyes the colour of moonlight…

Moira Young was born in 1959 in New Westminster, British Columbia, and is of Scots and Cornish descent.

After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a degree in European History, she moved to the UK to attend The Drama Studio, gaining her equity card on the alternative comedy circuit in the mid-80s. She became a tap-dancing chorus girl in London’s West End, appearing in High Society, directed by Richard Eyre, before returning to Canada and retraining as an opera singer. In 1991, Moira won the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions in Western Canada and she has sung in opera throughout the UK and Europe.

Moira wrote her first book aged nine but didn’t take up writing seriously until 2003, when she enrolled on Elizabeth Hawkins’ Writing for Children course and workshop at the City Lit.

In 2006, Moira moved to Bath, where she still lives with her husband, and worked at the Bath Chronicle as PA to the Editor. She is now a full-time writer and is working on her second book. Blood Red Road has recently been optioned for film by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free UK, and is currently being adapted by award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Jack Thorne.

What the judges said:

“It’s astonishing how, in her first novel, Moira Young has so successfully bound believable characters into a heart-stopping adventure. She kept us reading, and left us hungry for more. A really special book.”

The five Costa Book Award winners, each of whom will receive £5,000, were selected from 568 entries. The five books are now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2011 Costa Book of the Year.

The winner, selected by a panel of judges chaired by Editor of the London Evening Standard, Geordie Greig and comprising Hugh Dennis, Dervla Kirwan, Mary Nightingale, William Fiennes, Flora Fraser, Patrick Gale, Jojo Moyes and Eleanor Updale, will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by presenter and broadcaster Penny Smith at Quaglino’s in central London on Tuesday 24th January 2012.

Since the introduction of the Book of the Year award in 1985, it has been won nine times by a novel, four times by a first novel, five times by a biography, seven times by a collection of poetry and once by a children’s book. The 2010 Costa Book of the Year was Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott.