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Costello debut voted Irish Book Awards' Book of the Year
Mary Costello’s debut novel Academy Street (Canongate) has been voted the Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year for 2014.
The book was chosen via public vote from the list of category winners announced at the recent Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.
Academy Street was named Eason Novel of the Year at the awards, and has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2014.
The book follows one woman’s life over four decades. Costello has previously written a short story collection, The China Factory (Stinging Fly Press, 2012) which was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for the Sunday Independent Best Newcomer category in the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2012.
The board of the Irish Book Awards said: "Mary Costello's Academy Street is a worthy winner of the Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year 2014. The China Factory signalled the arrival of a major new Irish literary talent and her first novel has been lauded by illustrious luminaries such as JM Coetzee and Ron Rash, proof positive that Mary Costello is the real deal. We at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards are proud to have Mary's debut novel as our Book of the Year and we wish her well with what looks sure to develop into a marvellous writing career."
