Women triumph at An Post Irish Book Awards

Women writers have excelled at the An Post Irish Book Awards, taking home the majority of awards for the first time, with authors such as Sally Rooney, Liz Nugent and Emilie Pine among the winning authors.

Rooney won the Eason Book Club Novel of the Year award for her second book, Normal People, that was longlisted for the Man Booker and is currently in the running for Waterstones' Book of the Year.

Nugent bagged two awards on the night for Skin Deep: the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year and the Ryan Tubridy Show Listeners’ Choice Award. 

Meanwhile academic Pine was named Sunday Independent' Newcomer of the Year for Notes to Self, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen won the Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year award for The Importance of Being Aisling, Lynn Ruane scooped Non-Fiction Book of the Year for People Like Me and the autobiography of footballer and GAA star Cora Staunton, Game Changer, was crowned Sports Book of the Year.

"It is also great to see so many female writers winning accolades this year," commented Maria Dickenson. "Many of them, including Emilie Pine, Sarah Webb, Lynne Ruane, Cora Staunton and Sally Rooney, are all writing about what it means to be a modern woman in contemporary Ireland and it is striking that these authors used the art of writing to tell their stories in such a truthful and honest way."

The full list of winners is as below. The awards ceremony, presented by RTÉ's Keelin Shanley, took place at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday evening (27th November). Highlights will be broadcast on RTÉ One at 10.15pm this Thursday (29th November).

Novel of the Year
Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber)

Non-Fiction Book of the Year
People Like Me by Lynn Ruane (Gill Books)

Popular Fiction Book of the Year
The Importance of Being Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen (Gill Books)

Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year
The Cow Book by John Connell (Granta Books)

Newcomer of the Year
Notes to Self by Emilie Pine (Tramp Press)

Crime Fiction Book of the Year
Skin Deep by Liz Nugent (Penguin Ireland)

Sports Book of the Year
Game Changer by Cora Staunton with Mary White (PRH Transworld Ireland)

Best Irish Published Book of the Year
Lighthouses of Ireland by Roger O’Reilly (Collins Press)

Teen / Young Adult Book of the Year
The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury)

Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)
Blazing a Trail by Sarah Webb and Lauren O’Neill (The O’Brien Press)

Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)
The President’s Cat by Peter Donnelly (Gill Books)

Irish Language Book of the Year
Tuatha De Denann by Diarmuid Johnson (Leabhar Breac)

Cookbook of the Year
Currabinny Cookbook by James Kavanagh and William Murray (Penguin Ireland)

The Ryan Tubridy Show Listeners’ Choice Award
Skin Deep by Liz Nugent (Penguin Ireland)

Irish Poem of the Year
Birthday by Brian Kirk

Short Story of the Year
How to Build a Space Rocket by Roisin O’Donnell (From The Broken Spiral ed. by RM Clarke)