
LISTOWEL WRITERS’ WEEK ANNOUNCE SHORTLIST FOR KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2021
Two first-time novelists are among the five writers shortlisted for the prestigious award—one of the most sought-after accolades in Irish writing—with a shared prize fund of €17,000. More than fifty novels were submitted for this year’s award and adjudicators Rachel Cusk and Richard Skinner were given the difficult task of choosing a shortlist of five on behalf of Listowel Writers’ Week, one of the oldest and longest running literary festivals in the country.
The five short-listed novels are:

This Happy, by Niamh Campbell (W&N)

Words to Shape my Name, by Laura McKenna (New Island)

Threshold, by Rob Doyle (Bloomsbury)

A Sabbatical in Leipzig, by Adrian Duncan (Lilliput)

Bina, by Anakana Schofield (Fleet/Little Brown)
The winner of the €15,000 prize will be announced on Wednesday, June 2nd, as part of Listowel Writers’ Week.