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Donal Ryan pictured with his award this evening. Patrick Bolger
page turners
'Heart, Be at Peace' by Donal Ryan named the An Post Irish Book of the Year
The novel was the unanimous choice of the judges this year.
LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2024
HEART, BE AT Peace by Donal Ryan, the award-winning author and native to Co Tipperary, has been crowned An Post Irish Book of The Year.
The novel, set in a small rural town where locals have dealt with the brunt of the economic collapse, was the unanimous choice of the judges according to chair of the panel Maria Dickenson.
She said Ryan’s writing earned him a place on the shortlist this year and among the greatest names in Irish literature. She said the book was a “masterful achievement” and congratulated Ryan, on behalf of the judging panel.
While jobs, dramas and life is back in the town in the book, a fresh menace is creeping around the shores and lanes. Ryan’s novel tells all about how the new-found peace of the community is about to be shattered, in an unimaginable way.
The announcement was made at tonight’s ceremony, which was broadcast on RTÉ One television. Heart, Be At Peace was among six in the mix to receive the prestigious award.
Each title is competing to win the overall award after they were drawn from the category winners at the An Post Irish Book Awards earlier this month.
These books won the Eason Novel of the Year, the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior), the Ireland AM Popular Fiction Book of the Year, the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year, the Eason Sports Book of the Year and the Dubray Biography of the Year, respectively, at the event.
A Stranger in The Family by Jane Casey, Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher, Frankie by Graham Norton, Nature Boy by Seán Ronayne and Obsessed by Johnny Sexton were all included on this year’s shortlist.
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