Listowel Writers' Week has announced Gráinne O’Hare as the winner of the 2026 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for her novel Thirst Trap.
The award, one of Ireland's longest-running literary prizes for fiction, was announced at the opening night of the festival's 55th anniversary celebrations in Listowel, Co Kerry.
Thirst Trap, which examines the pressures and contradictions of contemporary life, was selected from a shortlist of five novels.
Judges praised the novel for its intelligence, emotional precision and distinctive voice.
The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award carries a prize fund of €20,000 and is presented annually during Listowel Writers' Week, Ireland’s oldest literary and arts festival.
The 2026 shortlist also featured Conversation with the Sea by Hugo Hamilton, The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey, Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoilchoin and The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr.
The award was adjudicated by former First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon and novelist and essayist Andrew O'Hagan.
Previous winners include Niall Williams (Time of the Child, 2025), Darragh McKeon (Remembrance Sunday, 2024), Aingeala Flannery (The Amusements, 2023), Claire Keegan (Foster, 2022), Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and John Banville among others.
Founded in 1970, Listowel Writers' Week has become closely associated with the literary tradition of North Kerry and has hosted generations of Irish and international writers.
The festival programme this year includes public interviews, theatre, poetry, music, children’s events, workshops and literary discussions taking place across venues in the town - find out more here.
