WINNERS OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2022
The wait is finally over, and the winners of this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards have been revealed at a glittering evening ceremony at The Convention Centre in Dublin, on Wednesday 23 November.
“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.”
— David McRedmond, CEO of An Post.
Winner of the Eason Novel of the Year
Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury)
On the shortlist were: The Colony, by Audrey Magee (Faber & Faber); Seven Steeples, by Sara Baume (Tramp Press);The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press); The Queen of Dirt Island, by Donal Ryan (Doubleday);The Raptures, by Jan Carson (Doubleday).
Winner of the An Post Bookshop of the Year
Bridge Street Books, Wicklow
Shortlisted were: Bridge Books, Dromore, Down; Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway; Tertulia, Westport, Mayo; Philip’s Bookshop, Mallow, Cork; Books at One Letterfrack, Connemara, Galway.
Winner of Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year
Breaking Point, by Edel Coffey (Sphere)
On the shortlist were: The Accomplice, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion); The Interview, by Gill Perdue (Sandycove); Hide and Seek, by Andrea Mara (Transworld).
Winner of the Eason Sports Book of the Year in Association with Ireland AM
Kellie, by Kellie Harrington, with Roddy Doyle (Sandycove)
On the shortlist were: The Game, by Tadhg Coakley (Merrion Press); A History of the GAA in 100 Objects, by Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press); Point to Point: The Heart of Irish Horse Racing – Healy Racing, with words by Richard Pugh and photographs by Pat ‘Cash’ Healy (The O’Brien Press);Life Begins in Leitrim, by Zak Moradi, with Niall Kelly (Gill Books); The Rodfather, by Roddy Collins, with Paul Howard (Sandycove).
Winner of the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
There’s Been a Little Incident, by Alice Ryan (Head of Zeus)
On the shortlist were: None of This is Serious, by Catherine Prasifka (Canongate Books); Speechless, by Fiacre Ryan (Merrion Press); Breaking Point, by Edel Coffey (Sphere); My Fourth Time, We Drowned, by Sally Hayden (Fourth Estate); The Amusements, by Aingeala Flannery (Sandycove).
Winner of the Odgers Berndtson Non-fiction Book of the Year
My Fourth Time, We Drowned, by Sally Hayden (Fourth Estate)
On the shortlist were: Listen to the Land Speak, by Manchán Magan (Gill Books); Lessons from the Bench, by Judge Gillian Hussey, with Rachel Pierce (Gill Books); Gaffs, by Rory Hearne (HarperCollins Ireland); Fierce Appetites, by Elizabeth Boyle (Sandycove); Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber, by Sean O’Driscoll (Sandycove).
Winner of the Dubray Biography of the Year
Time and Tide, by Charlie Bird, with Ray Burke (HarperCollins Ireland)
Shortlisted were: The Last Good Funeral of the Year, by Ed O’Loughlin (Riverrun); Without Warning and only Sometimes, by Kit de Waal (Tinder Press); I Don’t Want to Talk About Home, by Suad Aldarra (Doubleday); Surrender, by Bono (Hutchinson Heinemann); All Down Darkness Wide, by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape).
Winner of the Avoca Cookbook of the Year
The Daly Dish: Bold Food Made Good, by Gina Daly, Karol Daly (Gill Books)
Shortlisted were: Bake, by Graham Herterich (Nine Bean Rows Books); Lili’s Family Favourites, by Lili Forberg (The O’Brien Press); The GIY Diaries: A Year of Growing and Cooking, by Michael Kelly (Gill Books); Sweet Therapy: The Joy of Baking, by Una Leonard (Hachette Books Ireland); Lush, by Daniel Lambert (HarperCollins Ireland).
Winner of the National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Again, Rachel, by Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph)
Shortlisted were: Forever Home, by Graham Norton (Coronet); What Eden Did Next, by Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline Review); Duffy and Son, by Damien Owens (HarperCollins Ireland); Once Upon a Time in Donnybrook, by Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (Sandycove); Idol, by Louise O’Neill (Transworld).
Winner of the Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding, by Eoghan Daltun (Hachette Books Ireland)
Shortlisted were: The Homemade Year, by Lilly Higgins (Gill Books); Still Points: A Guide to Living the Mindful, Meditative Way, by Brother Richard (Hachette Books Ireland); The Female Factor, by Dr. Hazel Wallace (Yellow Kite); What Every Woman Needs to Know About Her Gut, by Barbara Ryan, Elaine McGowan (John Murray Press); Climate Worrier, by Colm O’Regan (HarperCollins Ireland).
Winner of The Journal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year
An Irish Folklore Treasury, by John Creedon (Gill Books)
Shortlisted were: The Book of the Skelligs, by John Crowley and John Sheehan (Cork University Press); Abandoned Ireland, by Rebecca Brownlie (Merrion Press);The Guardians: 100 Years of An Garda Síochána 1922-2022, by Garda Stephen Moore (The O’Brien Press); The Irish Civil War in Colour, by Michael B. Barry, John O’Byrne (Gill Books); The Great Lighthouses of Ireland, by David Hare (Gill Books).
Winner of the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)
Our Big Day, by Bob Johnston, illustrated by Michael Emberley (The O’Brien Press)
Shortlisted were: Cloud Babies, by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Chris Judge (Walker Books);Well Done, Mommy Penguin, by Chris Haughton (Walker Books); Fox and Son Tailers, by Paddy Donnelly, (The O’Brien Press); Meanwhile Back on Earth, by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books); Sir Adam the Brave and the Moody Monsters, by David King, illustrated by Rhiannon Archard (Sandycove).
Winner of the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)
Girls Who Slay Monsters, by Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shone Shirley MacDonald (HarperCollins Ireland)
Shortlisted were: The Lost Girl King, by Catherine Doyle (Bloomsbury Children’s Books); The Day I Got Trapped in my Brain, by Amy Huberman, illustrated by Katie Kear (Scholastic); Frankie’s World, by Aoife Dooley, (Scholastic); The Truth About Riley, by Sinéad Moriarty (Gill Books); The Great Irish History Book, by Myles Dungan, illustrated by Alan Dunne (Gill Books).
Bookselling Ireland Winner of the Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year
Let’s Talk, by Richie Sadlier (Gill Books)
Shortlisted were: Truth be Told, by Sue Divin (Macmillan Children’s Books); Rock, Paper, Killers, by Alexia Mason (Simon and Schuster); The Gifts That Bind Us, by Caroline O’Donoghue (Walker Books);The Asparagus Bunch, by Jessica Scott-Whyte (Welbeck Flame); Twin Crowns, by Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle (Farshore – Electric Monkey, Harper Collins).
Winner of the Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year
Wedding Dress, by Martina Dalton (From: New Irish Writing, Irish Independent)
Shortlisted were: Unmaking His Chair, by Jim McElroy (From: We Are the Weather, published by Smith/ Doorstop); What Man Doesn’t, by Paul McMahon (From: The Poetry Society – VII, No. 4, Winter 2021); Amelia’s Model, by Michael Longley (From: The Slain Birds – Jonathan Cape).
Winner of the Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
This Small Giddy Life, by Nuala O’Connor (from A Little Unsteadily into Light, New Island)
Shortlisted were: Sleep Watchers, by Roisín O’Donnell (The Stinging Fly Press); Red Market, by Sheila Armstong (How to Gut a Fish, Bloomsbury); The Chekhovians, by Rebecca Miller (Total, Canongate Books); Mathematics, by Wendy Erskine (Dance Move, The Stinging Fly Press); Miles of Bad Road, by Neil Tully (The Waxed Lemon Literary Journal).
Winner of the Love Leabhar Gaeilge Irish Language Book of the Year
EL, by Thaddeus Ó Buachalla (Coiscéim)
Shortlisted were: An Dara Roghna, by Celia de Fréine (LeabhairCOMHAR); Bádh B’fhéidir, by Seán Ó Muireagáin (Éabhlóid); Súil an Dáill, by Darach Ó Scolaí (Leabhar Breac); Bláth na dTulach, Stories form 28 Authors (Éabhlóid).
Winner of the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year
John Boyne
Shortlisted were: Catherine Ryan Howard; Sally Rooney; Sarah Webb; Roisín Meaney; Louise O’Neill.
The Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award
Booker Prize winner Anne Enright was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award.
Enright joins a gallery of bright lights including Sebastian Barry, Colm Toibín, Eavan Boland, Maeve Binchy and Séamus Heaney.
In conferring the award, the Board of the Irish Book Awards said that Enright has occupied a central position in the cultural life of Ireland for over three decades.
“In a literary career that has delivered seven novels, three short story collections, a memoir of motherhood, and the 2007 Booker Prize for her fourth novel, The Gathering, Enright has been an integral part of Ireland’s contemporary literary renaissance, earning her a substantial international reputation in the process.”
