THE BEST IRISH books of 2022 have been awarded at a literary star-studded event at the Convention Centre in Dublin this evening.
The An Post Irish Book Awards is an annual celebration of Irish writing, with the best of the year’s books nominated across a range of categories.
Readers had their say in who should win, thanks to a reader vote which is sponsored by National Book Tokens.
This year’s event saw Richie Sadlier, Sally Hayden, John Boyne, Kellie Harrington, John Creedon and Marian Keyes among the winning authors.
The awards were set up in 2006 to celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible. Among the categories is TheJournal.ie Best Published Book of the Year.
This year’s winners were:
Eason Novel of the Year
TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year
Odgers Berndtson Non-fiction Book of the Year
Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year
Avoca Cookbook of the Year
Eason Sports Book of the Year in Association with Ireland AM
Dubray Biography of the Year
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior
Bookselling Ireland Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year
An Post Irish Bookshop of the Year
Love Leabhar Gaeilge Irish Language Book of the Year
Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year
Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year
National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year
The An Post Irish Book Awards also presented the acclaimed author Anne Enright with the ‘Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award’. Her long literary career has spanned seven novels, three short story collections, a memoir of motherhood and the 2007 Booker Prize for her fourth novel, The Gathering.
She joins a host of other distinguished recipients including Sebastian Barry, Colm Toibín, Thomas Kinsella, Eavan Boland, John Montague, JP Donleavy, Paul Durcan, John Banville, Maeve Binchy, John McGahern, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor, Séamus Heaney and Jennifer Johnston.
Brenden Corbett, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, commented:
Some wonderful books have been published this year, many by established literary stars, but also by an astonishing number of talented newcomers who seem to spring fully-formed on to the Irish literary scene every year. We are delighted to congratulate the winners with their An Post Irish Book Awards.
David McRedmond, CEO of An Post, said that An Post is very proud to be associated with the Irish Book Awards: “It’s wonderful to celebrate such great writers, illustrators, poets and bookshops from across the island. I congratulate the winners and all those who were shortlisted.”
A one-hour television special on the awards, hosted by Oliver Callan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Wednesday 7 December. The show will reveal this year’s An Post Irish Book of the Year 2022, which was selected by a distinguished panel of judges.
Previous winners of the An Post Irish Book of the Year include Fintan O’Toole for We Don’t Know Ourselves, Doireann Ni Ghriofa for A Ghost in the Throat, the late Vicky Phelan for Overcoming, Emilie Pine for Notes to Self, John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo for Atlas of the Irish Revolution, Mike McCormack for Solar Bones, Louise O’Neill for Asking For It, Mary Costello for Academy St, Donal Ryan for The Spinning Heart, Michael Harding for Staring at Lakes, and Belinda McKeon for Solace.
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