The Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards is in its eleventh year now. The award celebrates and promotes Irish writing across a range of categories and allows members of the public to vote on the shortlist and select the winners. The Eason Novel shortlist is a rich mix of fiction across a range of genres, and with many other categories including book of the year, newcomer of the year, best non-fiction novel and others, there’s plenty for everyone, whatever your reading habits.
The full shortlist is now announced, and we have the books from each category below for you, with special attention on the Eason Novel of the Year shortlist.
Eason Novel of the Year
The Journal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year
All Through the Night – Edited by Marie Heaney
Dublin since 1922 – Tim Carey
Looking Back: The Changing Faces of Ireland – Eric Luke
Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks – Edited by Fintan O’Toole
The Invisible Art: A Century of Music in Ireland 1916-2016 – Michael Dervan
The Glass Shore – Sinéad Gleeson
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
Himself – Jess Kidd
Red Dirt – E M Reapy
The Last Days of Summer – Vanessa Ronan
The Maker of Swans – Paraic O’Donnell
The Things I Should Have Told You – Carmel Harrington
This Living and Immortal Thing – Austin Duffy
National Book Tokens Nonfiction Book of the Year
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy – Paul Howard
Ireland The Autobiography – John Bowman
The Hurley Maker’s Son – Patrick Deeley
The Supreme Court – Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir – John Banville & Paul Joyce
When Ideas Matter – Michael D Higgins
RTE Radio 1 Listeners’ Choice
Lying In Wait – Liz Nugent
Conclave – Robert Harris
Dictatorship: My Teenage War With OCD – Rebecca Ryan
All Through the Night – Edited by Marie Heaney
All We Shall Know – Donal Ryan
Victim Without A Face – Stefan Ahnhem
Listowel Writers Week Poem of the Year
In Glasnevin – Jane Clarke
Patagonia – Emma McKervey
Suppose I Lost – Andrew Soye
Love / Hotel / Love – Michael Naghtan Shanks
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)
A Child of Books – Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers
Goodnight Everyone – Chris Haughton
Historopedia – Fatti and John Burke
Pigín of Howth – Kathleen Watkins
Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit’s Bad Habits – Julian Gough & Jim Field
Rover and the Big Fat Baby – Roddy Doyle
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)
Knights of the Borrowed Dark – Dave Rudden
The Book of Shadows – E.R. Murray
The Making of Mollie – Anna Carey
Needlework – Deirdre Sullivan
Nothing Tastes As Good – Claire Hennessy
Flawed – Cecelia Ahern
Avonmore Cookbook of the Year
Recipes For A Nervous Breakdown – Sophie White
The World of The Happy Pear – Stephen and David Flynn
Natural Born Feeder – Roz Purcell
The Little Green Spoon – Indy Power
Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook – Neven Maguire
The Brother Hubbard – Garrett Fitzgerald
Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Game of Throw-Ins – Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
Lyrebird – Cecelia Ahern
Rebel Sisters – Marita Conlon-McKenna
The Girl From The Savoy – Hazel Gaynor
The Privileged – Emily Hourican
Holding – Graham Norton
Irish AM Popular Nonfiction Book of the Year
Adventures of a Wonky-Eyed Boy – Jason Byrne
Fat Chance – Louise McSharry
Making It Up As I Go Along – Marian Keyes
Pippa – Pippa O’Connor
Talking to Strangers – Michael Harding
Mr. Pussy: Before I Forget to Remember – Alan Amsby/David Kenny
Bord Gais Energy Sports Book of the Year
Blood, Sweat & McAteer – Jason McAteer
Coolmore Stud, Ireland’s Greatest Sporting Success Story – Alan Conway
My Life in Rugby – Donal Lenihan
Out of Control – Cathal Mc Carron
The Battle – Paul O’Connell
Win or Learn – John Kavanagh
Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
Here We Are – Lucy Caldwell
K-K-K – Lauren Foley
The Visit – Orla McAlinden
Green Amber Red – Jane Casey
The Birds of June – John Connell
What a River Remembers of its Course – Gerard Beirne
Books are My Bag Crime Fiction Award
Distress Signals – Catherine Ryan Howard
Little Bones – Sam Blake
Lying In Wait – Liz Nugent
The Constant Soldier – William Ryan
The Drowning Child – Alex Barclay
The Trespasser – Tana French
I have to say with all the categories, that’s the longest shortlist I’ve ever written! It does mean a list of fantastic Irish books though, and readers can vote on their favourites now, and have a say in the overall results of the Irish Book Awards 2016.
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