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bookshop of the year
Did your favourite bookshop make the Irish Book Awards longlist?
The public is invited to vote for their favourite on the list this month.
IF YOU’RE A book lover, you’ll no doubt have your favourite shop that you love browsing in and buying from.
It might even be in the longlist for the An Post Bookshop of the Year award, which was announced this evening.
The shortlist of six bookshops will be revealed on 20 October and the overall winner announced at the An Post Irish Book Awards on 23 November.
There are 12 bookshops across the country in the longlist for the An Post Bookshop of the Year category at this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards. The annual literary event celebrates Irish writing and authors, and last year the bookshop of the year category was introduced to acknowledge the significant role played by independent bookshops and local branches of bookshop chains in their local communities.
Kenny’s Bookshop in Galway was crowned the overall winner in 2021.
The longlist of 12 bookshops around Ireland for 2022 are:
- Kerr’s Bookshop, Clonakilty, Cork
- Philip’s Bookshop, Mallow, Cork
- Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway
- Waterstones, Drogheda, Louth
- Tertulia, Westport, Mayo
- Liber, Sligo
- Bridge Street Books, Wicklow
- Chapters Bookstore, Parnell Street, Dublin
- Books at One LetterFrack, Letterfrack, Connemara, Galway
- Bridge Books, Dromore, County Down
- Books on the Green, Sandymount, Dublin
- Genius Juniors, Online Bookshop
Customers were asked to vote for their favourite bookshops and to explain why. The bookshops that received the most votes were then longlisted and invited by the judges to enter a written submission.
The next stage involves mystery shoppers visiting the longlisted bookshops as part of the judging process, which will help in putting together the shortlist of six bookshops.
The overall winner of the An Post Bookshop of the Year category will be announced at the An Post Irish Book Awards event on 23 November, and the winner will get a trophy along with a prize worth €5,000 from An Post Commerce.
The other categories in the An Post Irish Book Awards include Novel of the Year, Children’s (Junior and Senior), Cookery, Crime Fiction, Popular Fiction, Non-fiction, Sports, Short Story, Poetry, Teen and Young Adult and Irish Language.
Brendan Corbett, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, said:
“Bookshops sit at the heart of their communities’ cultural and social lives, and we introduced this category last year to acknowledge the important contribution they make to not only their communities and readers, but the significant role they play in the Irish book business. The holy trinity of bookshops, writers and readers is a wonderful alliance we should all support, and that’s why I’m delighted to see 12 such deserving bookshops on the longlist.”
A TV programme about this year’s awards will be broadcast on RTÉ One television in December and will culminate in one of the 2022 winning titles being announced as the An Post Irish Book of the Year 2022.
To find out more, visit the An Post Irish Book Awards website.
