The Mermaid of Black Conch by UEA alumna Monique Roffey has won the 2020 Costa Book Award, for which she will receive £30,000. She was previously announced as the category winner of the 2020 Costa Novel Award. The Mermaid of Black Conch was published by Peepal Tree Press in March last year. Monique was born in Trinidad and graduated from the English Literature BA programme at UEA in 1987. Her first novel Sun Dog was published in 2002. The White Woman On The Green Bicycle, published in 2009, was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize and the 2011 Encore Prize. Archipelago, published in 2012, won the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature in 2013, while House of Ashes was shortlisted for both the Costa Fiction Award and the OCM BOCAS prize. Monique is a Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, and The Mermaid of Black Conch is currently also longlisted for the 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize.
Monique Roffey wins Costa Book Award
