Francis Spufford's Golden Hill shortlisted for Costa

A novel by Francis Spufford, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, has been nominated for a Costa book award 2016.

Golden Hill (Faber & Faber), which was published in May 2016, has been shortlisted for the first novel prize, alongside three other works of fiction.

Francis supervises Creative Writing PhD candidates in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, teaches on the MA Creative Writing and Life Writing, and holds research interests in a variety of areas, including children's literature; science fiction and fantasy; Russian literature; and the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction.

Golden Hill has been described by the Guardian as “splendidly entertaining” and a “frolicsome first novel”. Set in mid-18th century Manhattan, the book follows a young man from London, Mr Smith, after his arrival in New York with an enormous sum of money.

Goldsmiths alumna Kate Tempest has also been shortlisted in the poetry category for her album Let Them Eat Chaos (Picador). The “48-minute long hip-hop-influenced performance poem about the alienated lives of the residents of one south London street, set to a variety of post-dubstep bass music” was released in September.  

The Costa book awards are open to authors living in the UK and Ireland. From almost 600 submissions, five shortlists of four books each have been selected.

The winner of each category will be announced on 3rd January 2017. An overall winner - the Costa book of the year - will be announced on 31st January.