Honeyman wins Costa award

THE Scottish writer Gail Honeyman, pictured, has won the Costa First Novel Award for her acclaimed debut, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Jon McGregor has won the Costa Novel Award category with his fourth novel, Reservoir 13.

Novelist and historian Rebecca Stott claimed the Costa Biography Award for In The Days of Rain, her memoir of growing up in, and breaking away from, a fundamentalist Christian sect.

The late Helen Dunmore posthumously won the Costa Poetry Award for Inside the Wave which the judges called “a final, great achievement”.

The Costa Children’s Book Award was won by Katherine Rundell for The Explorer, an adventure story set in the Amazon rainforest.

The five Costa Book Award winners each receive £5,000 and are now eligible for the 2017 Costa Book of the Year.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by presenter and broadcaster Penny Smith on January 30.

www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards.

Eastwood celebration

EASTWOOD Park Theatre, in East Renfrewshire, has revealed the first confirmed dates for its 45th anniversary programme.

The theatre has been entertaining audiences since its doors opened on January 8, 1973, with the first live first performance being The Schoolmistress by Giffnock Players’ Club.

Highlights of the first half of the sapphire anniversary programme include Glasgow’s only date of the The Wedding Reception, an interactive comedy dining experience where the audience become guests at a surprise wedding, complete with three-course meal.

Ae Fond Kiss at the theatre on February 13 is a musical journey through the major events of Robert Burns’ life.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is coming to the theatre with Out of Chaos productions on February 20.

Contemporary dance drama, Freagra, choreographed by Rob Heaslip, is brought to the theatre on February 28, while A Brave Face, which explores post-traumatic stress, is lined up for May 30.

www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk/boxoffice

Changes at Paxton music

ARTISTIC director Helen Jamieson has announced that she is to step down from her role at Music at Paxton in September, at the end of the festival’s 13th year.

The festival takes place at Paxton House, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, a few miles south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

As a consultant, Ms Jamieson helped found Music at Paxton in 2005/6 and under her artistic leadership the event has grown to a 10-day summer festival.

She said: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved as a small team with a passion for chamber music.”

The process of appointing a new artist director has begun.

The deadline for applications is February 16.

www.musicatpaxton.co.uk.