The Irish Book Awards are Irish

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. M ...

s given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. First awarded in 2006, they grew out of the Hughes & Hughes bookstore's Irish Novel of the Year Prize which was inaugurated in 2003. Since 2007 the Awards have been an independent not-for-profit company funded by sponsorship. The primary sponsor is

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...

, the state owned postal service in Ireland. There are currently nine categories, seven of which are judged by the Irish Literary Academy, two by a public vote. There is also a lifetime achievement award.

Awards

Current Awards

*Novel of the Year *Crime Fiction Book of the Year *Best Irish Published Book of the Year *Non-Fiction Book of the Year *Cookbook of the Year *Popular Fiction Book of the Year *Children's Book of the Year, Junior *Children's Book of the Year, Senior *Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year *Sports Book of the Year *Newcomer of the Year *Irish Language Book of the Year *Lifestyle Book of the Year *Biography of the Year *Author of the Year *Short Story of the Year *Poem of the Year *Bookshop of the Year *Lifetime Achievement Award

Previous Awards

* International Recognition Award (last awarded 2020) * RTÉ Audience/Listeners' Choice Award (last awarded 2021) * Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year (last awarded 2020)

An Post Irish Book of the Year

Since 2011, one of the award winning books has been selected as the overall Irish Book of the Year.

Winners

Book of the Year winners are indicated with a blue ribbon ().

2003–2005 (Hughes & Hughes Award / Irish Novel)

Inaugurated in 2000 by Hughes & Hughes, the ''Hughes & Hughes Award'' ran until 2005 when it merged with the Irish Book Awards and became the Irish Novel category. *2003: ''That They May Face the Rising Sun'' by

John McGahern John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is regarded as one of the most important writers of the latter half of the twentieth century. Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in w ...

*2004: ''Dancer'' by

Colum McCann Colum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in New York. He is a Thomas Hunter Writer in Residence at Hunter College, New York. McCann's work has been published in over 40 languages, and h ...

*2005: ''Havoc in its Third Year'' by Ronan Bennett

2006

In subsequent years the Children's Book category was split in to two award categories; Junior and Senior.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

The 2014 awards were presented on 26 November at the

DoubleTree by Hilton DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. As of December 31, 2019, it has 587 ...

Hotel in Dublin.

2015

The 2015 awards were presented on 25 November at the

Hotel in Dublin.

2016

The 2016 awards sponsored by

Bord Gáis Energy Bord Gáis Energy is a utility that supplies gas and electricity and boiler services to customers in the Republic of Ireland. Bord Gáis Energy has been in operation in some form since 1976 and supplies over 750,000 customers with energy in Irel ...

were presented on 16 November at the

Hotel in Dublin. The awards ceremony was presented by Keelin Shanley. On 14 December, ''Solar Bones'' by Mike McCormack was named as Ireland's best book of 2016. It was chosen by a public vote from the list of category winners below.

2017

The 2017 awards sponsored by

were presented on 28 November at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin. The awards ceremony was presented by RTÉ's Keelin Shanley and Evelyn O’ Rourke.

2018

The 2018 awards sponsored by

were presented on 27 November at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin. The awards ceremony was presented by RTÉ's

Keelin Shanley Caoilfhionn Shanley-Ferguson (24 August 1968 – 7 February 2020), also known as Keelin Shanley, was a journalist, newsreader and presenter with RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television station, where she had presented the '' Six One News' ...

while each winning author was interviewed Evelyn O’ Rourke. ''Notes to Self'' by Emilie Pine was voted the An Post Irish Book of the Year for 2018.

2019

The 2019 awards ceremony was held in Dublin on 20 November 2019. The event was hosted by Miriam O'Callaghan and

Evelyn O'Rourke Evelyn O'Rourke is an Irish broadcaster employed by RTÉ O'Rourke joined RTÉ in 1998 as a researcher on '' The Gay Byrne Show'' and '' The Arts Show'' on RTÉ Radio 1 before moving on to become roving reporter on '' Today with Pat Kenny'' on ...

. Over 115,000 votes were cast by readers to select the winners in each category. The winner of the An Post Irish Book of the Year was ''Overcoming'' by

Vicky Phelan Victoria Phelan (née Kelly; 28 October 1974 – 14 November 2022), was an Irish healthcare campaigner, best known for her campaigning in the CervicalCheck cancer scandal. Biography Born Victoria Kelly on 28 October 1974 in Mooncoin in County ...

and Naomi Linehan.

2020

The 2020 awards ceremony was held virtually on 25 November 2020. A record number of votes were cast by the Irish public to select the winners in each category. ''A Ghost in the Throat'' by Doireann Ní Ghríofa was announced as Irish Book of the Year in December 2020.

2021

The awards ceremony was broadcast online on 23 November 2021. On 8 December, '' We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958'' was announced as Irish Book of the Year during a one-hour television special on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

2022

The awards ceremony was broadcast online on 25 November 2021. On 7 December, '' My Fourth Time, We Drowned'' was announced as Irish Book of the Year during a one-hour television special on

References

External links

{{Portal , Children's literature
Irish Book Awards
Awards established in 2006 Irish literary awards Fiction awards Non-fiction literary awards Irish children's literary awards Literary awards honoring lifetime achievement Sports writing awards Mystery and detective fiction awards First book awards