KEANE ON BOOKS

Christmas came early this year when I was asked to interview one of my all-time favourite writers. The incomparable Claire Messud is attending the International Literature Festival Dublin and on May 26, she’ll be talking to me about her riveting new novel, This Strange Eventful History. The International Literature Festival Dublin takes place on May 1726 in Merrion Square Park and there’s a brilliant line-up of over 200 events for all ages. Tickets can be booked at ilfdublin.com.

Another literary hero of mine, Joseph O’Connor, has made the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his magnificent reimagining of the heroic life of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, My Father’s House.

First awarded in 2010, the prize honours the inventor of the historical fiction genre, Walter Scott, and its 2024 judging panel comprises Katie Grant (chair), James Holloway, Elizabeth Laird, James Naughtie, Kirsty Wark and Saira Shah. The winner receives £25,000, and each shortlisted author is awarded £1,500, making it among the richest fiction prizes in the UK.

Books must have been written in English, set more than 60 years ago, and published during 2023 in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Shortlisted authors this year are from England, Ireland, Trinidad, Canada and Malaysia.

The winner will be announced at the Borders Book Festival in Scotland on June 13.

Listowel Writers Week has revealed the shortlist for the 2024 Pigott Poetry Prize. Ireland’s largest monetary prize for a poetry collection – the winner receives a cheque for €12,000 and the shortlisted finalists each get €1,000 – it will be adjudicated by Billy Collins and Annemarie Ní Churreáin.

The three shortlisted collections are Up Late by Nick Laird, The Solace of Artemis by Paula Meehan and David Nash’s No Man’s Land. The winner will be announced on May 29 during the opening night ceremony of Listowel Writers Week.