Borders poet misses out on £30,000 national award

Borders poet JO Morgan has missed out on the 2018 Costa Book of the Year award and the £30,000 prize money that comes with it.
Stow poet JO Morgan at the Costa Book of the Year ceremony in London. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)Stow poet JO Morgan at the Costa Book of the Year ceremony in London. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
Stow poet JO Morgan at the Costa Book of the Year ceremony in London. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

Assurances, the latest long-form poem by the Edinburgh-born 40-year-old, of Stow, lost out to The Cut Out Girl, a novel by Netherlands-born Bart van Es. His book, published by Jonathan Cape, did earn him a £5,000 prize for winning the competition’s poetry section, however.

The other finalists were Stuart Turton, Sally Rooney and Hilary McKay.

Assurances is Morgan’s sixth book, following 2009’s Natural Mechanical, 2011’s Long Cuts, 2013’s At Maldon, 2015’s In Casting Off and 2016’s Interference Pattern.