Helen Dunmore posthumously wins Costa Book of the Year

Final poetry collection celebrated with award following her death from cancer

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Helen Dunmore’s son Patrick Charnley, daughter Tess and widower Francis collect the award
(Image credit: Photo credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Helen Dunmore’s poetry collection Inside the Wave, written during the final weeks of her life, has won the Costa Book of the Year prize.

She is only the second posthumous winner in the literary prize’s history, after fellow poet Ted Hughes won for Birthday Letters in 1998, The Guardian says.

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