The Irish Book Awards are Irish

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

s given annually to books and authors in various categories. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. The primary sponsor is

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

, the state owned postal service in Ireland.

History

First awarded in 2006, the Irish Book Awards 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.

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

sponsored the awards from 2012 until 2018, when An Post took over sponsorship.

Description

There are currently nine categories, seven of which are judged by the Irish Literary Academy, and 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 * The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award * New Voices: The An Post Writing Prize * 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. Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in works such as '' The Barracks'', '' The Dark'' and '' Amongst Women'', he was hailed by ''The Ob ...

* 2004: ''Dancer'' by Colum McCann * 2005: ''Havoc in its Third Year'' by Ronan Bennett

2006

In subsequent years the Children's Book category was split into 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. , it has 587 properties with 135,745 ...

Hotel in Dublin.

2015

The 2015 awards were presented on 25 November at the

Hotel in Dublin.

2016

The 2016 awards sponsored by

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 Evelyn O'Rourke (born 1972) is an Irish people, Irish broadcaster and journalist employed by RTÉ. She is the current Arts and Media Correspondent for RTÉ News since February 2024. O'Rourke joined RTÉ in 1998 as a researcher on ''The Gay Byrn ...

2018

The 2018 awards sponsored by

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

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's Keelin Shanley while each winning author was interviewed

. ''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

. 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 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 is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

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

2023

The awards were announced at a ceremony at Dublin's Convention Centre on 22 November 2023. The ''Book of the Year'' winner was '' The Bee Sting'' by Paul Murray which was announced on 6 December 2023.

2024

The 2024 winners were announced on 27 November, again in the Convention Centre.

References

External links

* {{Official website 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