Time to honour the best of 2017’s Irish writing
Readers can play their part in selecting the finest books of the year, and win a prize of their own, writes Madeleine Keane
WHO says writers are a Bacchanalian lot? ’Twas the coffee that ran out at the launch of the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards shortlists for 2017 last Thursday morning. The usual giddy array of authors, publishers, agents and editors gathered to hear awards organiser Alastair Giles declare that “Irish writers and Irish writing are hot and about to get hotter.
“The flow of fine writing never seems to lose momentum.”
And nor indeed do the awards which continue to thrive and in testament to their burgeoning popularity, RTE, who has filmed the event for the past five years, will screen the gala event (watched by 10pc of the population last year) in a prime slot after the news on Wednesday, November 29.
Remember, you the readers can have your say and anyone who casts their vote on the www.bgeirishbookawards.ie website, will be in with the chance of winning a €100 voucher from National Book Tokens.
So here, without further ado, are the shortlists for the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2017.
TheJournal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year:
The Woodcutter and His Family – Frank McGuinness (Brandon); Atlas of the Irish Revolution – John Crowley, Donal O Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo (Cork University Press); A Sense of Home – Helen James (Hachette Books Ireland); Tangleweed and Brine – Deirdre Sullivan illustrated by Karen Vaughan (Little Island); Connemara & Aran – Walter Pfeiffer (Artisan House). De Valera Volume 1: Rise (1882 – 1932) – David McCullagh (Gill Books).
National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)
Rabbit and the Bear: The Pest in the Nest – Julian Gough and Jim Field (Hodder Children’s Press); Socks for Mr Wolf – Tatyana Feeney (The O’Brien Press); A Sailor went to Sea, Sea, Sea – Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood – Sarah Webb illustrated by Steve McCarthy (The O’Brien Press); Patrick and the President – Ryan Tubridy illustrated by PJ Lynch (Walker Books); The President’s Glasses – Peter Donnelly (Gill Books); Focloiropedia: A Journey Through the Irish Language from Aran to Zu – Fatti Burke and John Burke (Gill Books).
National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)
Illegal – Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin illustrated Giovanni Rigano (Hodder Children’s Books); The Forever Court – Dave Rudden (Puffin); A Place Called Perfect – Helena Duggan (Usborne Publishing); Star by Star – Sheena Wilkinson (Little Island); A Dangerous Crossing – Jane Mitchell (Little Island); Stand by Me – Judi Curtin (The O’Brien Press).
Dept 51@Eason Teen/Young Adult Book of the Year
Spellbook of the Lost and Found – Moira FowleyDoyle (Corgi Childrens); Perfect – Cecelia Ahern (HarperCollins Children’s Books); Moonrise – Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury Children’s Books); Like Other Girls – Claire Hennessy (Hot Key Books); Tangleweed and Brine – Deirdre Sullivan illustrated Karen Vaughan (Little Island); The Girl in Between – Sarah Carroll (Simon & Schuster UK).
Eason Book Club Novel of the Year
Mrs Osmond – John Banville (Viking); When Light is Like Water – Molly McCloskey; The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne (Doubleday); Smile – Roddy Doyle (Jonathan Cape); Midwinter Break – Bernard MacLaverty (Johnathan Cape); he: A Novel – John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Orange Blossom Days – Patricia Scanlan (Simon & Schuster); The Break – Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph); Operation Trumpsformation – Ross O’Carroll-Kelly; The Good Mother – Sinead Moriarty ; The Woman at 72 Derry Lane – Carmel Harrington (HarperCollins Publishers); Keep You Safe – Melissa Hill (HQ).
‘Irish Independent’ Crime Fiction Book of the Year
Can You Keep A Secret? – Karen Perry (Michael Joseph); Here and Gone – Haylen Beck (Harvill Secker); Let the Dead Speak – Jane Casey (HaperCollins Publisher); One Bad Turn – Sinead Crowley (Quercus); There was a Crooked Man – Cat
Hogan (Poolbeg Press); The Therapy House – Julie Parsons (New Island Books).
‘Sunday Independent’ Newcomer of the Year
I Found My Tribe – Ruth Fitzmaurice (Chatto & Windus); Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber); The Gospel According to Blindboy – Blindboy Boatclub (Gill Books); Oh My God What A Complete Aisling The Novel – Emer Mc Lysaght and Sarah Breen (Gill Books); Montpelier Parade – Karl Geary (Harvill Secker); Harvesting – Lisa Harding (New Island Books).
Onside Non-Fiction Book of the Year
In America: Tales from Trump Country – Caitriona Perry (Gill Books); After Ireland – Declan Kiberd (Head of Zeus); Alfie – Trevor White; Brexit and Ireland – Tony Connelly; Wounds: A Memoir of War & Love – Fergal Keane (William Collins); I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell (Headline).
Ireland AM Non-Fiction Book of the Year
The M Word – Maia Dunphy (Gill Books); WikiBeaks – Dustin the Turkey (Transworld Ireland); Why Can’t Everything Just Stay the Same? – Stefanie Preissner (Hechette Books Ireland); Everything – Vogue William (Hachette Books Ireland); Owning It: Your Bullsh*t-Free Guide to Living with Anxiety – Caroline Foran (Hachette Books Ireland); Motherfocloir – Darch O Seaghdha (Head of Zeus).
EUROSPAR Cookbook of the Year
Cook Well, Eat Well – Rory O’ Connell (Gill Books); Neven Maguire’s Perfect Irish Christmas – Neven Maguire (Gill Books); Fearless Food – Lynda Booth (DCS Publishing); Half Hour Hero – Roz Purcell; Home Baking – Rachel Allen (HarperCollins Publishers); The Cookery School, Donnybrook Fair – Niall Murphy (Mercier Press).
Bord Gais Energy Sports Book of the Year
The Choice – Philly McMahon with Niall Kelly (Gill Books); The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation – Barry Ryan (Gill Books); Shay: Any Given Saturday – The Autobiography – Shay Given (Trinity Mirror Sport Media); The Warrior’s Code: My Autobiography – Jackie Tyrell with Christy O’ Connor (Trinity Mirror Sport Media); Gooch: The Autobiography – Colm Cooper (Transworld Ireland); Form: My Autobiography – Kieran Fallon (Simon & Schuster)
RTE Radio One’s The Ryan Tubridy Show Listener’s Choice Award
Jackie’s Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family– Kathy Mc Keon (Simon & Schuster); he: A Novel – John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton); Ithaca – Alan McMonagle (Picador); The Word is Murder – Anthony Horowitz (Century); Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery – Henry Marsh (Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Francis Brennan’s Book of Household Management – Francis Brennan (Gill Books).
Listowel Writers Week Poem of the Year
Points – Amanda Bell ; Seven Sugar Cubes – Clodagh Beresford; Bride and Moth – Tara Bergin ; Ledwidge in Manchester – John Mc Auliffe.
Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
Back to Bones – Christine Dwyer Hickey (Longlisted for Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award; Consolata – Nuala O’ Connor (From Joyride to Jupiter – New Island Books); Dogs – Helena Mulkerns (From Ferenji and other Stories – Doire Press); Hollow – Paul McVeigh (From Numero Cinq Magazine); In the Event of an Emergency – Patricia McAdoo (From Books Ireland Magazine); Upcycle: an account of some strange happenings on Botanic Road – June Caldwell (From Room Littler Darker – New Island Books).