Cecelia Ahern, Donal Ryan, Oscar-winning actor Brenda Fricker, John Banville, RTÉ presenter Miriam O'Callaghan and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are among the authors on the shortlist for this year's An Post Irish Book Awards, which take place this November.
Celebrating its 20th year, the Irish Book Awards shortlist features a diverse mix of writing from new and established Irish writers across 19 categories, including Novel of the Year, Children, Cookbook, Crime Fiction, Popular Fiction, Non-fiction, Sports, Lifestyle, Short Story, Irish language, Poem, Newcomer, Teen and Young Adult, Irish Published and Biography, as well as an award celebrating the Irish Bookshop Of The Year.
In another strong year for Irish writing, authors on the shortlist include Catherine Ryan Howard, John Banville, Brenda Fricker, Adam Maguire, Una Leonard, Leo Varadkar, Roisín O'Donnell, Andrew Porter, Elaine Feeney, Steve Cavanagh, Sam Blake, Alan Titley, Sophie White, Donal Skehan, Leona Forde, Joseph O'Connor, Patricia Forde, Gavan Reilly and Cecelia Ahern.
Novel of the Year nominees include Hugo Hamilton for Conversation with the Sea, John Patrick McHugh for Fun and Games, Elaine Feeney for Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way, Roisín O'Donnell for Nesting, Wendy Erskine for The Benefactors, Garrett Carr for The Boy from the Sea, Joseph O'Connor for The Ghosts of Rome and John Banville for Venetian Vespers.
Shortlisted in the Author of the Year category are Colm Tóibín, Donal Ryan, Elaine Feeney, John Boyne, Roisín O'Donnell and Sarah Maria Griffin.
Winners will be announced at awards ceremony in the Convention Centre, Dublin on Thursday, 27th November. A special TV programme hosted by Oliver Callan announcing the overall Irish Book of the Year winner will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Thursday, 11th December.
The public are now being asked to have their say and cast their votes for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website - voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Tokens vouchers.
Voters may cast their votes from 8pm on Wednesday, 22nd October until voting closes at 6:00pm on Sunday 16th November.
Larry Mac Hale, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, says: "The shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards once again highlights the extraordinary breadth and depth of talent among Irish writers. It’s inspiring to see such creativity and passion reflected across every category, with deserving recognition for authors, publishers, illustrators, and booksellers alike."
The An Post Irish Book Awards 2025 - The Shortlist
Eason Novel of the Year
Conversation with the Sea – Hugo Hamilton (Hachette Books Ireland)
Fun and Games – John Patrick McHugh (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins)
Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way – Elaine Feeney (Harvill, Penguin)
Nesting – Roisín O’Donnell (Scribner Bools from Simon & Schuster)
The Benefactors – Wendy Erksine (Sceptre)
The Boy from the Sea – Garrett Carr (Picador, Pan MacMillan)
The Ghosts of Rome – Joseph O’Connor (Harvill, Penguin)
Venetian Vespers – John Banville (Faber)
TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year
An Irish Word a Day – Hector Ó hEochagáin (Gill Books)
For and against a united Ireland – Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride (Published by Royal Irish Academy and commissioned by the ARINS project)
Midwinter: A Journey Through a Season – Michael Harding, illustrated by Enagh Farrell (Hachette Books Ireland)
Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) – Manchán Mangan, illustrated by Megan Luddy (Gill Books)
Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2023-2025 – Edited by Sarah Binchy (New Island Books)
The GAA Covered – John Kelly (Gill Books)
Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year
Burn Them Out!: A history of Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland – Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc (Apollo, Head of Zeus)
Charlie vs Garret: The rivalry that shaped modern Ireland – Eoin O’Malley (Eriu)
Great Irish Wives – Nicola Pierce (The O’Brien Press)
Ireland: Mapping the Island – Joseph Brady and Paul Ferguson (Birlinn)
The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History – Donal Fallon (New Island Books)
Wrong Women – Caroline West (Eriu)
Dubray Biography of the Year
A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing – Sarah Corbett Lynch (Hachette Books Ireland)
Miriam: Life, Work, Everything – Miriam O’Callaghan (Sandycove, Penguin)
She Died Young: A Life in Fragments – Brenda Fricker (Apollo, Head of Zeus)
Speaking My Mind – Leo Varadkar (Sandycove, Penguin)
Still – A Memoir – Julia Kelly (New Island Books)
The Brass Player: Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre – Stephen Travers with Yvonne Watterson (New Island Books)
Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Catastrophe: Nakba II – Fintan Drury (Merrion Press)
Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe – Jacqueline Connolly with Kathryn Rogers (Hachette Books Ireland)
Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the heart of Dunnes Stores – Matt Cooper (Eriu)
The Bailout Babies – Adam Maguire (Gill Books)
The Lie of the Land: A Game Plan for Ireland in Climate Crisis – John Gibbons (Sandycove, Penguin)
The Secret Life of Leinster House – Gavan Reilly (Gill Books)
Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year
Donal’s Real Time Recipes – Donal Skehan (Yellow Kite)
Good Together: Delicious Recipes for the Moments that Matter – Una Leonard (Hachette Books Ireland)
Make & Freeze - Lou Robbie (Michael Joseph, Penguin)
Sophie’s Swaps – Sophie Morris (Gill Books)
The Walking Effect – Karl Henry (Gill Books)
Light Up – Miriam Hussey (Gill Books)
Eason Sports Book of the Year
Cloud Nine: My Life in Rugby – Conor Murray with Tommy Conlon (Reach Sport)
Heart on My Sleeve – Andrew Porter (Eriu)
Ó Sé – Marc O Sé with Adrian Russell (Gill Books)
The Changing Game: The Past, Present and Future of Football – Martin O’Neill, with Joey D’Urso (Headline, Hachette Books Ireland)
The Only Way I Know: The Autobiography – Andy Farrell (Sandycove, Penguin)
The Race – David Gillick with Cathal Dennehy (Gill Books)
The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award
A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing – Sarah Corbett Lynch (Hachette Books Ireland)
Intensive Care: True Stories of Healing, Heartache and Hope from Inside Irish Children’s Medicine – Dr Suzanne Crowe (Hachette Books Ireland)
Nesting – Roisín O’Donnell (Scribner Books from Simon & Schuster)
Old Parish: Notes on Hurling – Ciarán Murphy (Sandycove, Penguin)
The Gaeilge Guide: Spark Your Connection to the Irish Language and Legacy – Mollie Guidera (Hachette Books Ireland)
The Ghosts of Rome – Joseph O’Connor (Harvill, Penguin)
Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year
Colm Tóibín
Donal Ryan
Elaine Feeney
John Boyne
Roisín O’Donnell
Sarah Maria Griffin
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
Every One Still Here – Liadan Ní Chuinn (The Stinging Fly)
Show Me Where It Hurts – Claire Gleeson (Sceptre)
Frogs for Watchdogs – Seán Farrell (New Island Books)
Oddbody – Rose Keating (Canongate)
Sugartown – Caragh Maxwell (Oneworld)
The Compound – Aisling Rawle (The Borough Press, HaperCollins)
The Wardrobe Department – Elaine Garvey (Canongate)
Thirst Trap – Gráinne O’Hare (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year in association with The Irish Independent
Burn After Reading – Catherine Ryan Howard (Bantam, Transworld)
Fair Play – Louise Hegarty (Picador, Pan MacMillan)
It Should Have Been You – Andrea Mara (Bantam, Transworld)
The Killing Sense – Sam Blake (Corvus, Atlantic Books)
The Secret Room – Jane Casey (Hemlock, HarperCollins)
The Stolen Child – Carmel Harrington (Headline Review)
The Stranger Inside – Amanda Cassidy (Canelo Crime)
Two Kinds of Stranger – Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM
Before Dorothy – Hazel Gaynor (Harper Fiction, HaperCollins)
City Girls Forever – Patricia Scanlan (Simon & Schuster)
Moving On – Roisin Meaney (Hachette Books Ireland)
Our Song – Anna Carey (Hachette Books Ireland)
Paper Heart – Cecelia Ahern (Harper Fiction, HaperCollins)
Releasing 10 – Chloe Walsh (Piatkus, Little, Brown Book Group)
Such a Good Couple – Sophie White (Hachette Books Ireland)
The In-Laws – Sinéad Moriarty (Sandycove, Penguin)
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year - Junior
An Fia sa Choill – Sadhbh Devlin illustrated by Anastasia Melynkova (Futa Fata)
Badger Books – Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)
Don’t Trust Fish! – Neil Sharpson, illustrated by Dan Santat (Anderson Press)
Ellora McGee, Trainee Banshee – Sinéad O’Hart, illustrated by Úna Woods (Gill Books)
Letters to a Monster – Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
Once I Was a Tree – Eoin McLaughlin, illustrated by Guilherme Karsten (Nosy Crow)
Penguin TV – Niamh Sharkey and Owen Churcher (Gill Books)
Run Home, Little Fox – Tom McCaughren and Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin (The O’Brien Press)
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior
Animalopedia – Kathi and John Burke (Gill Books)
Tales of Darkisle Book One: Conn of the Dead – Dave Rudden, illustrated by Ali Al Amine (Gill Books)
Granny National – Rachael Blackmore with Rachel Pierce (Sandycove, Penguin)
Milly McCarthy and the Haunted House HullaBOOloo! – Leona Forde illustrated by Karen Harte (Gill Books)
Nina Peanut Epic World Tour Era – Sarah Bowie (Scholastic)
The Doomsday Club – Kevin Moran (The O’Brien Press)
International Education Services Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year, in honour of John Treacy
Any Way You Slice It - Méabh McDonnell (The O’Brien Press)
Matched Up – Jenny Ireland (Penguin)
My Name is Jodie Jones – Emma Shevah (David Fickling Books)
Solo – Gráinne O’Brien (Little Island Books)
Shipshock – Caroline O’Donoghue (Walker Books)
The Rebel and the Rose – Catherine Doyle (Simon & Schuster)
Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana
An Bhlaosc sa mBois – Michéal Ó Conghaile (Cló Iar-Chonnacht)
Bódléar – Darach Ó Scolaí (Leabhar Breac)
Fiche – Colm Ó Ceallacháin (Leabhar Breac)
Scéalta Nollag – Alan Titley, maisithe ag Firas Aldakkak (LeabhairCOMHAR)
New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with the Irish Independent
Carnations – Lorraine Courtney
Glass Splinters – Kieran Marsh
Breathing Lessons – Sylvia Caldwell
That Little Tent of Blue – Mary Shovelin
All the Birch Trees Were Waving – Pádhraic Quinn
A Constriction – Eamon McGuinness
New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with the Irish Independent
‘There’s never a crowd at the poetry section’ – Vincent Barton
‘The Tragedy of It’ – Kevin O’Farrell
‘The Crows’ and ‘The Leaf’ - Paul McMahon
‘Minimum Wage’, ‘South-Eastern Wind’ and ‘Midnight Oil’ – Joanne McCarthy
‘Rowan’s furniture. Dublin 1965’ and ‘Carousel’ – Nollaig Rowan
‘I Remember Stealing’ and ‘The Visitor’ – Bronagh Mallon
An Post Bookshop of the Year (in alphabetical order)
Antonia’s Bookstore, Trim, Co. Meath
Chapters Bookstore, Dublin 1
Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Co. Galway
The Company of Books, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Liber Bookshop, Sligo Town
The Maynooth Bookshop, Co. Kildare
Find out more about the An Post Irish Book Awards here
