NOBEL LITERATURE LAUREATE Seamus Heaney is to be honoured at next month’s Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards with a lifetime achievement award.

The shortlist of books up for prizes at the event on 24 November are:

Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year:

• Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)
• On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry (Faber)
• The Cold Eye of Heaven by Christine Dwyer Hickey (Atlantic)
• City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (Random House)
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (Random House)
• Mistaken by Neil Jordan (John Murray)

RTÉ Radio 1’s The John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award:

• A visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Corsair)
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (Granta)
• How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Ebury)
• How the Light Gets in by Mary McEvoy (Hachette)
• The Club by Christy O’Connor (Penguin Ireland)
• My Dad was nearly James Bond by Des Bishop (Penguin Ireland)

The Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year:

• A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black (Mantle)
• The Bloody Meadow by William Ryan (Mantle)
• Bloodland by Alan Glynn (Faber)
• The Reckoning by Jane Casey (Ebury)
• Taboo by Casey Hill (Simon & Schuster)
• Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke (Liberties Press)

The Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year:

• How Ireland Really Went Bust by Matt Cooper (Penguin Ireland)
• Easy Meals by Rachel Allen (Collins)
• Circles Around the Sun by Molly McCloskey (Penguin Ireland)
• Moscow, December 25, 1991 by Conor O’Clery (Transworld Ireland)
• Just Joe: My Autobiography by Joe Duffy (Transworld Ireland)
• Anglo Republic by Simon Carswell (Penguin Ireland)

Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year:

• The Time of my Life by Cecilia Ahern (Harper Collins)
• All For You by Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline)
• Me and My Sisters by Sinead Moriarty (Penguin Ireland)
• Love and Marriage by Patricia Scanlan (Transworld Ireland)
• NAMA Mia! by Ross O’Carroll Kelly (Penguin Ireland)
• The Pink Ladies Club by Emma Hannigan (Poolbeg Press)

Irish Sports Book of the Year:

• My Autobiography by AP McCoy (Orion)
• Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)
• Walk On: My Life in Red by Ronnie Whelan and Tommy Conlon (Simon & Schuster)
• A Parish Far from Home by Philip O’Connor (Gill & Macmillan)
• Joking Apart: My Autobiography by Donncha O’Callaghan (Transworld Ireland)
• Inside the Peloton by Nicolas Roche (Transworld Ireland)

Sunday Independent Best Irish Newcomer of the Year:

• The Tenderloin by John Butler (Picador)
• Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)
• The Better Half by Sarah Harte (Penguin Ireland)
• The Lingerie Designer by Siobhan McKenna (Poolbeg Press)
• Salty Baby by Orla Tinsley (Hachette)
• My Dad was nearly James Bond by Des Bishop (Penguin Ireland)

International Education Services Best Irish Published Book of the Year:

• Catherine’s Family Kitchen by Catherine Fulvio (Gill & Macmillan)
• Make Bake Love by Lilly Higgins (Gill & Macmillan)
• Revolution by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc (Mercier)
• The Other Ireland by Mary Jones (Gill & Macmillan)
• Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom by Tim Robinson (Penguin Ireland)
• Gorgeous to Go by Aisling McDermott (Gill & Macmillan)

Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year:

Junior

• Adam’s World of Wonders by Benji Bennett (Adams Printing Press)
• The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge (Andersen Press)
• Sally Go Round the Stars by Sarah Webb and Steve McCarthy with Claire Ranson (O’Brien Press)
• Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (Harper Collins Childrens)
• Marco Moves In by Gerry Boland (O’Brien Press)

Senior

• The Saga of Larten Crepsley: Ocean of Blood by Darren Shan (Harper Collins Childrens)
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy (Harper Collins Childrens)
• And For Your Information… by Denise Deegan (Hachette)
• Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent by Alan Early (Mercier)
• The Real Rebecca by Anna Carey (O’Brien)

To vote on the best books of last year, go to the Irish Book Awards website.

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More