The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the Irish American businessman

Dan Rooney Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 – April 13, 2017) was an American executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football team in the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers' ...

, owner and chairman of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

franchise and former

US Ambassador to Ireland The United States Ambassador to Ireland is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the United States of America to Ireland. It is considered a highly prestigious position within the United States Foreign Service. The current ambass ...

. The prize is awarded to

Irish writers Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

aged under 40 who are published in Irish or English. Although often associated with individual books, it is intended to reward a body of work. Originally worth £750,"An Irishman's Diary", ''The Irish Times'', 7 May 1976. the current value of the prize is €10,000.Caroline Walsh, "Loose Leaves", ''The Irish Times'', 21 June 2008.

List of recipients

* 1976: Heno Magee * 1977:

Desmond Hogan Desmond Hogan (born 10 December 1950) is an Irish writer. Awarded the 1977 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and 1980 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, his oeuvre comprises novels, plays, short stories and travel writing. The ''Cork Examiner'' said: ...

* 1978:

Peter Sheridan Peter Sheridan (born 1952) is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director. He lives in Dublin. His awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 1980 he was writer-in-residence in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and his short film, T ...

* 1979: Kate Cruise O'Brien, ''A Gift Horse'' (short stories) * 1980:

Bernard Farrell Bernard Farrell (born 1941) is an Irish dramatist, whose contemporary comedies – both light and dark – have been described as "well-wrought, cleverly shaped with a keen sense of absurdity" and as "dark and dangerous comedy in which characte ...

* 1981:

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, ''Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academy ...

* 1982:

Medbh McGuckian Medbh McGuckian (born as Maeve McCaughan on 12 August 1950) is a poet from Northern Ireland. Biography She was born the third of six children as Maeve McCaughan to Hugh and Margaret McCaughan in North Belfast. Her father was a school headmaster ...

; Special prize awarded to Seán Ó Tuama and

Thomas Kinsella Thomas Kinsella (4 May 192822 December 2021) was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside Dublin, Kinsella attended University College Dublin before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s ...

for ''An Duanaire / Poems of the Dispossessed'' * 1983: Dorothy Nelson, ''In Night's City'' (novel) * 1984: Ronan Sheehan * 1985:

Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include ''The Factory Girls'', '' Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', '' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and '' Dolly West's Kitchen ...

, ''

Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'' is a 1985 play by Frank McGuinness. Plot synopsis The play centres on the experiences of eight unionist Ulstermen who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of ...

'' (play) * 1986: Paul Mercier * 1987:

Deirdre Madden Deirdre Madden (born 20 August 1960) is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Career Madden was born in Toomebridge, County Antrim and was educated at St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt. She proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin (BA) and then to ...

, ''Hidden Symptoms'' (novel) * 1988:

Glenn Patterson Glenn Patterson (born 1961) is a writer from Belfast, best known as a novelist. Biography Patterson was born in Belfast where he attended Methodist College Belfast. He graduated from the University of East Anglia (BA, MA), where he was a produ ...

, ''Burning Your Own'' (novel) * 1989:

Robert McLiam Wilson Robert McLiam Wilson (born Robert Wilson, 24 February 1964) is a Northern Irish novelist. Biography He was born in the New Lodge district of Belfast and then moved to Turf Lodge and other places in the city. He attended St Malachy's College ...

, '' Ripley Bogle'' (novel) * 1990:

Mary Dorcey Mary Dorcey (born in 1950) is an Irish poet, novelist, short story writer, feminist and LGBTQIA+ activist. She was a former writer in residence at Trinity College Dublin and the Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre of University Col ...

, ''A Noise from the Woodshed'' (short stories) * 1991:

Anne Enright Anne Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish writer. She has published seven novels, many short stories and a non-fiction work called ''Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood'', about the birth of her two children. Her writing expl ...

, ''The Portable Virgin'' (short stories) * 1992: Hugo Hamilton * 1993: Gerard Fanning (poet) * 1994:

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 ...

, ''Fishing the Sloe-Black River'' (short stories) * 1995:

Philip MacCann Philip MacCann is a British author. Born in Manchester, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury. His first book, ''The Miracle Shed'' (1995), a collection of ...

, ''The Miracle Shed'' (short stories) * 1996: Mike McCormack, ''Getting It in the Head'' (short stories); additional Special Award presented to Vona Groarke and Conor O'Callaghan * 1997: Anne Haverty, ''

One Day as a Tiger ''One Day as a Tiger'' is the first novel by Irish author Anne Haverty. Published in 1997 it was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award that year and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Title As explained in the preface to th ...

'' (novel) * 1998: David Wheatley, ''Thirst'' (poems) * 1999:

Mark O'Rowe Mark O'Rowe is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. Life Mark O'Rowe was born in 1970 in Dublin, Ireland, to parents Hugh and Patricia O'Rowe (to whom he dedicated his 1999 play, ''Howie the Rookie''). He grew up in Tallaght, a working class s ...

, ''Howie the Rookie'' (play) * 2000:

Claire Keegan Claire Keegan (born 1968) is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in ''The New Yorker'', ''Best American Short Stories'', ''Granta'', and ''The Paris Review''. Biography Born in County Wicklow in 1968, Keegan is ...

, ''Antarctica'' (short stories), Special award presented to David Marcus. * 2001:

Keith Ridgway Keith Ridgway (born 2 October 1965) is an Irish novelist. An author, he has been described as "a worthy inheritor" of "the modernist tradition in Irish fiction." Writings ''Horses'', Ridgway's first published work of fiction, appeared in ''Faber ...

, ''Standard Time'' (short stories) * 2002:

Caitríona O’Reilly Caitríona O'Reilly (born 1973) is an Irish poet and critic. Life She earned BA and PhD degrees in Archaeology and English at Trinity College, Dublin, where she was awarded a PhD on American poetry, and was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish L ...

, ''The Nowhere Birds'' (poems) * 2003: Eugene O'Brien, ''Eden'' (play) * 2004: Claire Kilroy, ''All Summer'' (novel) * 2005: Nick Laird, ''To a Fault'' (poems) * 2006:

Philip Ó Ceallaigh Philip Ó Ceallaigh (born 23 March 1968) is an Irish short story writer and translator who lives in Bucharest. Ó Ceallaigh won the 2006 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award ...

, ''Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse'' (short stories) * 2007:

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a Bri ...

, ''There Are Little Kingdoms'' (short stories

* 2008: Leontia Flynn, ''Drives'' (poems) * 2009: Kevin Power, '' Bad Day in Blackrock'' * 2010: Leanne O'Sullivan, ''Cailleach: The Hag Of Beara'' * 2011: Lucy Caldwell * 2012: Nancy Harris * 2013:

Ciarán Collins Ciarán Collins (born 1977 Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) * ...

* 2014: Colin Barrett * 2015: Sara Baume * 2016:

Doireann Ní Ghríofa Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an Irish poet and essayist who writes in both Irish and English. Biography Doireann Ní Ghríofa was born in Galway in 1981, but grew up in County Clare. She now lives in County Cork. Ní Ghríofa has been published ...

* 2017:

Elizabeth Reapy Elizabeth Reapy is an Irish writer. She won the 2017 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Life She graduated from NUI Galway, University College Cork, and Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , t ...

* 2018: Caitriona Lally * 2019: Mark O'Connell *2020: Stephen Sexton, ''If All the World and Love Were Young'' *2021:

Niamh Campbell Niamh Campbell is an Irish author. Works * ''We Were Young'' * ''Love Many'' * ''This Happy'' Awards * ''Sunday Times'' Short Story Award in 2020 for ''Love Many'' * Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2021 for ''This Happy'' * Kerry ...

, ''This Happy'' *2022: Seán Hewitt

References and footnotes

{{Rooney Prize for Irish Literature Awards established in 1976 Irish literary awards Literary awards honouring young writers Political book awards 1976 establishments in Ireland