Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan has won the An Post Irish Book of the Year 2024
Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan has been announced as the overall An Post Irish Book of the Year 2024.
The book was among six titles competing for the award, all of which were category winners at the recent 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards.
Described by the Irish Times as an ‘absorbing, emphatic story of a community in trouble,’ Donal Ryan’s Heart, Be at Peace is a heartfelt, lyrical novel that delves into themes of grief, healing, and emotional complexity. It can be read independently, or as a companion to Donal Ryan’s multi-award-winning novel The Spinning Heart.
Donal Ryan is an award-winning author from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, whose work has been published in over twenty languages to major critical acclaim. The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2012. It was also shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize, and was voted Irish Book of the Decade by the Dublin Book Festival.
His fourth novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2018, and won the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. Donal Ryan lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick, and lives with his wife Ann Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.
Judges for the award were: Maria Dickenson, General Manager of Dubray and board member of the An Post Irish Book Awards; Madeleine Keane, Literary Editor of the Sunday Independent; Cyril McGrane, An Post’s key liaison lead with IPC and UPU; Elaina Ryan, CEO of Children’s Books Ireland and Alex Clark, critic, journalist and broadcaster.
Maria Dickenson, Chair of the judging panel said that Heart, Be at Peace was the unanimous choice of the judges. ‘Donal Ryan’s writing has earned him a place among the greatest names in Irish literature and this lyrical novel speaks to the very heart of modern Irish society. Weaving twenty one voices together, Ryan portrays the passions, frailties and sorrows of one Irish town with compassion and clarity. Heart, Be at Peace is a masterful achievement and we congratulate Donal warmly on winning this award.’
