The shortlist for the Irish Book Awards was announced this week in Dublin. Bestselling authors Cecelia Ahern and Marita Conlon-McKenna spoke to me for UTV Ireland on how they felt about being nominated and why they think their books stand out.
Here’s a round-up of the nominees:
Eason Book Club Novel of the Year
- All We Shall Know – Donal Ryan
- Days Without End – Sebastian Barry
- Solar Bones – Mike McCormack
- The Lesser Bohemians – Eimear McBride
- The Wonder – Emma Donoghue
- This Must Be The Place – Maggie O’Farrell
- Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year
- Game of Throw-Ins – Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
- Holding – Graham Norton
- Lyrebird – Cecelia Ahern
- Rebel Sisters – Marita Conlon-McKenna
- The Girl From The Savoy – Hazel Gaynor
- The Privileged – Emily Hourican
RTÉ Radio 1’s The Ryan Tubridy Show Listeners’ Choice Award
- All Through The Night – edited by Marie Heaney
- All We Shall Know – Donal Ryan
- Conclave – Robert Harris
- Dictatorship: My Teenage War With OCD – Rebecca Ryan
- Lying In Wait – Liz Nugent
- Victim Without A Face – Stefan Ahnhem
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
- Himself – Jess Kidd
- Red Dirt – E.M. Reapy
- The Last Days of Summer – Vanessa Ronan
- The Maker of Swans – Paraic O’Donnell
- The Things I Should Have Told You – Carmel Harrington
- This Living and Immortal Thing – Austin Duffy
TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year
- All Through the Night – edited by Marie Heaney
- Dublin Since 1922 – Tim Carey
- Looking Back: The Changing Faces of Ireland – Eric Luke
- Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks – edited by Fintan O’Toole
- The Glass Shore – edited by Sinéad Gleeson
- The Invisible Art: A Century of Music in Ireland 1916-2016 – edited by Michael Dervan
Books Are My Bag Crime Fiction Book of the Year
- Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard
- Little Bones by Sam Blake
- Lying In Wait – Liz Nugent
- The Constant Soldier – William Ryan
- The Drowning Child – Alex Barclay
- The Trespasser – Tana French
Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year
- Adventures Of A Wonky-Eyed Boy – Jason Byrne
- Fat Chance – Louise McSharry
- Making It Up As I Go Along – Marian Keyes
- Mr Pussy: Before I Forget To Remember – Alan Amsby and David Kenny
- Pippa – Pippa O’Connor
- Talking To Strangers – Michael Harding
- Adventures Of A Wonky-Eyed Boy by Jason Byrne
National Book Tokens Non-Fiction Book of the Year
- I Read The News Today, Oh Boy – Paul Howard
- Ireland: The Autobiography – John Bowman
- The Hurley Maker’s Son – Patrick Deeley
- The Supreme Court – Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
- Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir – John Banville and Paul Joyce
- When Ideas Matter – Michael D. Higgins
Avonmore Cookbook of the Year
- Natural Born Feeder – Roz Purcell
- Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook – Neven Maguire
- Recipes For A Nervous Breakdown – Sophie White
- The Brother Hubbard Cookbook – Garrett Fitzgerald
- The Little Green Spoon – Indy Power
- The World of the Happy Pear – Stephen and David Flynn
Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year
- Blood, Sweat and McAteer – Jason McAteer
- Coolmore Stud: Ireland’s Greatest Sporting Success Story – Alan Conway
- My Life In Rugby – Donal Lenihan
- Out of Control – Cathal McCarron
- The Battle – Paul O’Connell
- Win or Learn – John Kavanagh
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior
- A Child of Books – Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers
- Goodnight Everyone – Chris Haughton
- Historopedia – Fatti and John Burke
- Pigín Of Howth – Kathleen Watkins, illustrated by Margaret Anne Suggs
- Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit’s Bad Habits – Julian Gough and Jim Field
- Rover and the Big Fat Baby – Roddy Doyle, illustrated by Chris Judge
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior
- Flawed – Cecelia Ahern
- Knights of the Borrowed Dark – Dave Rudden
- Needlework – Deirdre Sullivan
- Nothing Tastes As Good – Claire Hennessy
- The Book of Shadows – E.R. Murray
- The Making of Mollie – Anna Carey
Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
- Green Amber Red – Jane Casey
- Here We Are – Lucy Caldwell
- K-K-K – Lauren Foley
- The Birds of June – John Connell
- The Visit – Orla McAlinden
- What A River Remembers Of Its Course – Gerard Beirne
Listowel Writers’ Week Irish Poem of the Year
- In Glasnevin – Jane Clarke
- Love/Hotel/Love – Michael Naghten Shanks
- Patagonia – Emma McKervey
- Suppose I Lost – Andrew Soye
Congratulations to all. You can vote for your favourite book in each category on the Irish Book Awards website. Voting closes at midnight on Friday 11th November.
