THE AN POST Irish Book of the Year for 2020 has been awarded to Doireann Ní Ghríofa for her book A Ghost in the Throat. 

Ní Ghríofa said she was “overjoyed with this spectacular award” for her prose debut, which is described as a combination of essay and autobiographical fiction.

It has received widespread acclaim for its use of language and original approach as it weaves two stories together: the narrator’s own relationship with pregnancy and motherhood and the life of 18th-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. 

This latest award will join a number of other accolades for Ní Ghríofa, who was born in Galway, grew up in Clare and now lives in Cork. 

She has published a number of collections in both English and Irish, and was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2016.

At this year’s Irish Book Awards, she also won the Odgers Berndtson Non Fiction Book of the Year, in association with the Business Post. 

She beat off competition from winners in 13 other categories for the top prize, which was chosen from an online public vote.

The other categories winners were:

• Old Ireland in Colour by John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley
• Break the Mould by Sinéad Burke illustrated by Natalie Byrne
• Cnámh by Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde
• Neven Maguire’s Midweek Meals in Minutes by Neven Maguire
• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
• The Great Irish Farm Book by Darragh McCullough, illustrated by Sally Caulwell
• Home Stretch by Graham Norton
• After the Silence by Louise O’Neill
• Never Mind the B#ll*cks, Here’s the Science by Luke O’Neill
• Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan
• A Light That Never Goes Out by Keelin Shanley
• Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Karen Vaughan
• Champagne Football by Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan

John Treacy, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, said: “Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat made an immediate impact in the Irish book trade on publication.

It’s an amazing thing for an established poet to suddenly produce such an accomplished and interesting piece of work as her prose debut. It’s a beautifully produced book too and Tramp Press deserve great credit for their unerring eye in seeking out original material to publish. Congratulations to Doireann, a worthy winner of the An Post Irish Book of the Year.