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Irish Book Awards 2025 Shortlist 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 Books 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) Author of the Year Colm Tóibín Donal Ryan Elaine Feeney John Boyne Roisín O’Donnell Sarah Maria Griffin 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, HarperCollins) The Wardrobe Department – Elaine Garvey (Canongate) Thirst Trap – Gráinne O’Hare (Picador, Pan Macmillan) Crime Fiction Book of the Year 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) Popular Fiction Book of the Year Before Dorothy – Hazel Gaynor (Harper Fiction, HarperCollins) 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, HarperCollins) 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) 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) 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 and illustrated by Tom Snape (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) 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) 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 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 ‘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 Bookshop of the Year 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