Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards magazine 2016

THE BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE YEAR

GIVE THE GIFT OF A BOOK THIS CHRISTMAS.

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Welcome to the

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Autumn is the season of mellow fruitfulness according to Keats but for publishers, booksellers and readers, it’s that exciting time of year when the big books begin to hit the shelves in bookstores across the country.

Autumn also signals the start of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards season and we’re pleased to bring you once again the very best of Irish writing in our annual campaign.

Irish writing has never been more popular with Irish writers winning major literary awards and more new writers winning book deals every year. What does that tell us about our literary culture? It tells us that even among the deafening white noise of the digital world, the literary impulse is deeply embedded in our DNA, that here in Ireland, the flow of fine writing never loses momentum. This year, we bring you more books and more authors than ever before. Some will be old friends with whom you have long been familiar; some will be exciting new names you may not have encountered.

This year we’ve introduced a new poetry category and we welcome to our roster of sponsors a great literary name in Listowel Writers’ Week.

Remember, these awards are your awards. Look out for Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards logos in bookshops, libraries and online. Read, enjoy and vote for your favourite books at bgeirishbookawards.ie and watch the highlights on RTÉ One on 19th November. larry Machale is Managing Director of argosy Books & chairman, irish Book awards ltd.

a worD FroM oUr heaDline sPonsor: BorD gáis energy This is the seventh year that Bord Gáis Energy has sponsored what is widely regarded as one of the highlights of the Irish literary calendar.

Over the past number of years, our association with the Irish Book Awards has always been about supporting something that matters to our customers, and this year we’re continuing to help showcase the wealth of Irish literary talent on a national stage.

We’re also privileged to be honouring Jilly Cooper, one of the most prolific and popular writers of our time, with the Bord Gáis Energy International Recognition Award. She’s an exceptional writer who has delighted Irish readers for over 30 years, an astonishing achievement for any writer. It’s fitting too that in the year we’re introducing a new poetry category The Lifetime Achievement Award is being bestowed upon poet John Montague. With a career that spans nearly six decades he’s undoubtedly a deserving recipient.

I’d like to thank the Irish Book Awards committee, which is always willing to help us explore how we can help them promote Irish books and writing through this partnership. Congratulations to all of this year’s shortlisted authors and the very best of luck to each and every one.

Dave Kirwan, Managing Director, Bord gáis energy.

the BorD gรกis energy irish BooK awarDs 2015

Vote for the book you would like to win in each award category at bgeirishbookawards.ie and enter the prize draw to win €100 of national Book tokens Voting closes at midnight 11th November 2016.

Four lucky voters selected will each win €100 of National Book Tokens.

Please visit the website for terms and conditions.

THE ONLY GIFT CARD WELCOMED IN BOOKSHOPS ACROSS IRELAND

the eason BooK clUB

NOVEL OF THE YEAR “The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good.

Keep putting words on the page.”

Anne Enright Solar Bones Mike McCormack

Book Club

recent winners: 2015 The Green Road by Anne Enright 2014 Academy Street by Mary Costello 2013 The Guts by Roddy Doyle 2012 Ancient Light by John Banville 2011 Mistaken by Neil Jordan

Once a year, on All Souls Day, the dead may return; Solar Bones tells the story of one such visit.

Wry and poignant, Solar Bones is an intimate portrayal of one family, capturing how careless decisions ripple out into waves, and how our morals are challenged in small ways every day.

Tramp Press

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This Must Be The Place Maggie O’Farrell Daniel Sullivan is a New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland.

He has children he never sees and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star. A discovery about a woman he lost touch with years ago is about to send him off-course.

Will his love for Claudette rescue him?

Tinder Press

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Days Without End Sebastian Barry

The Wonder Emma Donoghue

Moving from the plains of the West to Tennessee, Sebastian Barry's latest work is a masterpiece of atmosphere and language. Both an intensely poignant story of two men and a fresh look at some of the most fateful years in America's past, Days Without End is a novel never to be forgotten.

A young girl stops eating, but remains miraculously alive and well. A nurse, sent to investigate meets a journalist hungry for a story.

Set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s, The Wonder is a psychological thriller about a child's murder threatening to happen in slow motion before our eyes.

Faber & Faber

Picador

The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride

All We Shall Know Donal Ryan

An 18-year-old Irish girl arrives in London to study drama and falls violently in love with an older actor. This older man has a disturbing past that the young girl is unprepared for. The young girl has a troubling past of her own. This is her story and their story.

“Martin Toppy is the son of a famous Traveller and the father of my unborn child. He’s 17, I'm 33.

I was his teacher. I’d have killed myself by now if I was brave enough.” So begins Donal Ryan’s explosive new novel.

Breathtaking moving and redemptive, it may be his best yet.

Faber & Faber

Doubleday Ireland

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the irish inDePenDent

POPULAR FICTION “I keep losing and regaining my equilibrium which is the basic plot of all popular fiction.”

Kurt Vonnegut

recent winners: 2015 The Way We Were by Sinéad Moriarty 2014 The Year I Met You by Cecelia Ahern 2013 Downturn Abbey by Ross O’Carroll Kelly 2012 A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy 2011 All For You by Sheila O’Flanagan

Holding Graham Norton

The Privileged Emily Hourican

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, the village's dark past begins to unravel. Darkly comic and profoundly sad, Graham Norton's debut novel is an intelligently crafted story of love, secrets and loss.

In an exclusive all girls' secondary school, they become friends. They choose the same university, and through smokefilled nights, lectures, sexual encounters and first loves, their bond deepens: a friendship which seems like it will last for evermore. But then, at an end-ofyear party, something happens which changes everything...

Hodder & Stoughton

Hachette Books Ireland

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BOOK OF THE YEAR

Game of Throw-ins Ross O’Carroll-Kelly

Lyrebird Cecelia Ahern

I was, like, staring down the barrel of middle age with the contentment of knowing that I was the greatest Irish rugby player no one in Ireland had ever actually heard of. until a chance conversation with an old Jesuit missionary made me realise that it wasn't enough. Vintage RO’CK.

In the south-west of Ireland, deep in the woods, a young woman lives alone, forever secluded from the world. She possesses an extraordinary talent, the likes of which no-one has seen before: a gift that will earn her the nickname Lyrebird and like all wild birds, she needs to fly free.

Penguin Ireland

HarperCollins

Rebel Sisters Marita ConlonMcKenna

The Girl from the Savoy Hazel Gaynor

With the threat of the First World War looming, tension simmers in Ireland.

Bright, beautiful and intelligent, the Gifford sisters kick against the conventions of their privileged AngloIrish background.

As war erupts across Europe, the spirited sisters soon find themselves caught up in Ireland’s struggle for freedom.

Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, pull her back and spur her on to make a better life.

HarperCollins

Transworld Ireland

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LISTENERS' CHOICE

“Nobody in the media does more for Irish books than Tubs and that's why we call him The Incredible Bookeating Boy.” Bert Wright

recent winners: 2015 Irelandopedia by Fatti & John Burke 2014 It’s All In The Head by Majella O’Donnell 2013 Staring at Lakes by Michael Harding 2012 Just Mary by Mary O’Rourke 2011 How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

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Victim Without A Face Stefan Ahnhem Two men dead. Both had been bullies at school. A single clue has been found at the scene: a class photo with two faces neatly crossed out. Fabian Risk is the lead detective on the case. He's also one of the children in the photograph. He thought he’d left his schooldays behind.

Head of Zeus

All Through the Night Edited by Marie Heaney A collection of moving and evocative night poems for all stages of life. Marie Heaney’s wideranging selection includes poems by W. H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, Paul Durcan, Seamus Heaney, John Keats, Sylvia Plath, W. B. Yeats and many more. The perfect bedside book for all stages of life.

Poetry Ireland

AWARD

Dictatorship My Teenage War With OCD Rebecca Ryan From the age of four, I experienced symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This book details my experiences with symptoms, school, therapy and, finally, management and recovery. I want to assure other young people struggling with this disorder that they are not alone.

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Lying In Wait Liz Nugent

All We Shall Know Donal Ryan

Conclave Robert Harris

Her brilliant debut, Unravelling Oliver, was a tough act to follow but Liz Nugent has come up with the goods. Not only is her style beautiful, but she keeps readers on the edge of their seats from page one until the completely unexpected ending.

A tense, taut, almost gothic thriller.

“Martin Toppy is the son of a famous Traveller and the father of my unborn child. He’s 17, I'm 33.

I was his teacher. I’d have killed myself by now if I was brave enough.” So begins Donal Ryan’s explosive new novel.

Breathtaking moving and redemptive, it may be his best yet.

Penguin Ireland

Doubleday Ireland

The Pope is dead.

Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, 118 will soon cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.

They are holy men but they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next three days one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.

Hutchinson

On Stream

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Photo: edward whitaker, Racing Post

BorD gáis energy international recognition awarD

JILLY COOPER

T

he Bord gáis energy international recognition award aims to honour international writers who, in the view of the Bord gáis energy irish Book awards board, have contributed substantially to the health and wealth of the irish book-trade. recipients will have a large corpus of popular work behind them; will have sales figures counted in millions; will have demonstrated staying power and longevity; and endeared themselves to irish booksellers throughout their long careers. this year’s recipient satisfies all of these criteria in spades and she’s Jilly cooper.

Jilly is the author of more than 40 bestselling books and her novels have sold in their millions. Born in London in 1937, she began her career as a journalist and wrote popular columns for the Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times. Her first big novel, Riders was published in 1985 and went straight to number one in the bestseller lists, as did Rivals published in 1988.

Polo, which was published in 1991, was the highest selling hardback novel of the year.

Other novels by Jilly Cooper include: Appasionata, Score!, Pandora and most recently Mount! which was published in September 2016.

Jilly was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the university of Gloucestershire for her contribution to literature and services to the county.

Jilly Cooper is one of the most prolific and popular writers of our time. Her deliciously risqué tales set in the world of equine sports have delighted Irish readers for over 30 years, an astonishing achievement for any writer. She’s also a self-made writer who has worked incredibly hard to stay at the top of her game and we’re extremely happy to award Jilly the 2016 Bord Gáis Energy International Recognition Award, which will be presented at the Gala Dinner in Dublin on 16th November.

Irish booksellers offer their warmest congratulations on this richly-deserved award.

Mount! is vintage cooper storytelling, the tenth in the rutshire chronicle romance series that opens with a historical prologue to the feuding that takes place. with a host of wonderful characters – both 18th century and contemporary – readers will meet many old friends and their families as well as some heart-warming new ones, with sex a-plenty, from bonking in barns to fumbles in Ferraris. as always, the horses are characters in their own right, and the affectionate and entertaining way Jilly describes them will strike a chord with animal lovers everywhere.

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the sUnDay inDePenDent

NEWCOMER OF THE “Feel your way toward something honest, hidden under the trapdoor on the top of your skull.”

Ray Bradbury The Maker of Swans Paraic O'Donnell

recent winners: 2015 Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume 2014 Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill 2013 The Herbalist by Niamh Boyce 2012 The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan 2011 Solace by Belinda McKeon

Clara lives in the care of Mr Crowe, a man of mysterious gifts. When he commits a crime of passion, he attracts the attention of a secret society. But attention is soon diverted to Clara, who possesses gifts of her own. A compulsive and dark Gothic tale of magic and art.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

The Things I should have told You Carmel Harrington The Guinness family is slowly falling apart. But their beloved dying Pops sends his family on an adventure across Europe, guided by his letters, his wisdom and his love. He knows that all his family need is time to be together, to find their love for each other and to find their way back home.

HarperCollins

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YEAR

This Living and Immortal Thing Austin Duffy The narrator is an Irish oncologist searching for a breakthrough in the lab of a New York hospital while struggling with his failing marriage, his growing alienation within the city, and the constant pull of home. A striking blend of medical information with a meditation on modern life and death.

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Red Dirt E. M. Reapy Three young Irish people have come to Australia, running from the economic ruins of their home country and their own unhappy lives.

In this promised land, stunned by the heat and the vast spaces, they each try to escape their past, surrounded by new friends who are even more damaged than themselves.

Head of Zeus

The Last Days of Summer Vanessa Ronan

Himself Jess Kidd

After ten years in the Huntsville State Penitentiary, Jasper Curtis returns home to live with his sister and her daughters.

Lizzie does not know who she's letting into her home: the brother she grew up loving or the monster he became. And it doesn’t take long for trouble to come to their door.

When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, he brings only a photograph of his long-lost mother and a determination to understand the lies of his past. No one will tell Mahony what happened to the teenage mother who abandoned him, despite his certainty that more than one of the villagers knows the truth.

Penguin Ireland

Canongate Books

Granta Books

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theJoUrnal.ie

BEST IRISH-PUBLISHED “Wherever they went the Irish brought with them their books, and that is how the Irish saved civilisation.”

Thomas Cahill

READ, SHARE AND SHAPE THE NEWS

recent winners: 2015 The Long Gaze Back by Sinéad Gleeson (Editor) 2014 Dubliners 100 by Thomas Morris (Editor) 2013 A History Of Ireland in 100 Objects by Fintan O’Toole 2012 Atlas of the Great Irish Famine by John Crowley, William J. Smyth & Mike Murphy 2011 Connemara by Tim Robinson

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All Through the Night Edited by Marie Heaney

Modern Ireland in 100 artworks Edited by Fintan O’Toole

A collection of moving and evocative night poems for all stages of life. Marie Heaney’s wideranging selection includes poems by W. H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, Paul Durcan, Seamus Heaney, John Keats, Sylvia Plath, W. B. Yeats and many more. The perfect bedside book for all stages of life.

100 artworks have been chosen for this beautifully illustrated book to represent each year from 1916-2015.

Compiled by the Royal Irish Academy in partnership with The Irish Times, they trace the story of Ireland's creative output from the revolutionary period until today, a story of endless challenge and controversy.

Poetry Ireland

Royal Irish Academy

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BOOK OF THE YEAR

Dublin Since 1922 Tim Carey Dublin Since 1922 tells the story of Ireland's capital city since independence.

Richly illustrated throughout, it unfolds around hundreds of dates in the city's history, beginning with the founding of the Irish state – when Dublin had the worst slums in Europe – and ending in the last days of the Celtic Tiger.

Hachette Books Ireland

Looking Back: The Changing Faces of Ireland Eric Luke Eric Luke has captured the essence of Irish life over the past 40 years, with stunning and thoughtprovoking images of the people of Ireland. Whether the subject is a film star or a Gaelic football player, a fisherman or a poteen distiller, Luke's talent is in showing a person as they really are.

The O'Brien Press

The Invisible Art: A Century of Music in Ireland 1916-2016 Edited by Michael Dervan For the first time, The Invisible Art examines the work of Irish composers from before the founding of the state right up to the 21st century. From valiant pioneers struggling against the tide to confident contemporary voices, it also highlights the difficulties musical creators faced in securing a clearly defined place in Irish society.

The Glass Shore Edited by Sinéad Gleeson Following the huge success of The Long Gaze Back in 2015, The Glass Shore features short stories by women writers from the North of Ireland.

Spanning three centuries, it includes both writers that are emerging and established, and deceased luminaries and forerunners.

Featuring stories by Lucy Caldwell, Evelyn Conlon, Martina Devlin and many more.

New Island Books

New Island Books

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the BooKs are My Bag

CRIME FICTION BOOK “Practically every fella that breaks the law has a damn good reason, to his own way of thinking.”

Jim Thompson The Drowning Child Alex Barclay

recent winners: 2015 After the Fire by Jane Casey 2014 Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent 2013 The Doll’s House by Louise Phillips 2012 Broken Harbour by Tana French 2011 Bloodland by Alan Glynn

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The Constant Soldier William Ryan

When Special Agent Ren Bryce is called to Tate, Oregon to investigate the disappearance of 12year-old Caleb Veir, she finds a town already in mourning.

Two other young boys have died recently. As Ren digs deeper, she discovers that all is not as it seems.

Can Ren uncover the truth before more children are harmed?

A wounded German soldier returns to find his village home overshadowed by a luxurious retreat for those who manage the concentration camps, run with the help of a group of female prisoners.

Inside is the woman to whom his fate has been tied since their arrest five years before, and now he must try to protect her.

HarperCollins

Mantle

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OF THE YEAR

Little Bones Sam Blake Following a break-in, Garda Cathy Connolly makes a grisly discovery: an old wedding dress – and, concealed in its hem, a baby's bones. And then the dress's original owner is found dead in a Dublin suburb.

Searching for answers, Cathy is drawn into a web of secrets and lies spun by three generations of women.

Bonnier Zaffre

Distress Signals Catherine Ryan Howard The day Adam Dunne's girlfriend, Sarah, fails to return from a Barcelona business trip, his perfect life begins to fall apart. Days later, the arrival of her passport and a note that reads 'I'm sorry – S' sets off real alarm bells. He vows to do whatever it takes to find her.

Corvus

The Trespasser Tana French

Lying In Wait Liz Nugent

This is the case that will make Detective Antoinette Conway's murder squad career. Or break it.

On a routine call, when Conway takes a good look at the victim's face, she realises she's seen her somewhere before. And suddenly the conviction that there's a different answer takes her breath away.

Her brilliant debut, Unravelling Oliver, was a tough act to follow but Liz Nugent has come up with the goods. Not only is her style beautiful, but she keeps readers on the edge of their seats from page one until the completely unexpected ending.

A tense, taut, almost gothic thriller.

Penguin Ireland

Hachette Books Ireland

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Photo: suella holland, the gallery Press

the BoB hUghes liFetiMe achieVeMent awarD 2016

JOHN MONTAGUE

T

he Board of the Bord gáis energy irish Book awards wish to confer upon John Montague its lifetime achievement award for 2016. the award will be presented at the annual awards Dinner in the Doubletree hilton hotel in Dublin on the night of 16th november.

Born in Brooklyn in 1929 to parents who had emigrated to the uS, John Montague and his two brothers were sent back to Ireland in 1933 where he was raised by two aunts on the family farm. Of this personal cataclysm he has written, “I was born in the 20th century and sent back to the 19th century at the age of four. I lost everything and everyone I knew at that point and it probably made me a poet.”

Throughout a long and rich artistic life John Montague has been variously described as an ulster poet, an Irish poet, an American poet. And such has been the breadth of his sojourns and of his poetic vision, he may also be called a world-class poet, a genuine citizen of the republic of letters whose work is imbued with the cosmopolitan spirit that animates all great writers. His oeuvre – described by a fellow poet as one “of epic sweep and lyric intensity” – has brought him to a place of elevated international standing in world literature.

From Yale university, where he studied with Robert Penn Warren, to the university of California, where he encountered the

Beat Poets, to Paris where he became close friends with playwright Samuel Beckett, as mentor to the Cork poets during his time at uCC, Montague has lived a life that spans epochs, cultural movements and wrenching historical moments.

Above all, his long and passionate involvement with the land of Ireland, north and south, encapsulated in a distinguished body of work that will surely stand the test of time, will earn him a place in the pantheon of Irish literary greats.

In his 88th year, nearly six decades after his debut collection of poems, The Board of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards is proud to honour the winner of the 2016 Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award, John Montague.

Windharp by John Montague The sounds of Ireland, that restless whispering you never get away from, seeping out of low bushes and grass, heatherbells and fern, wrinkling bog pools, scraping tree branches, light hunting cloud, sound hounding sight, a hand ceaselessly combing and stroking the landscape, till the valley gleams like the pile upon a mountain pony's coat.

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the irelanD aM

POPULAR NON-FICTIO

“Everyone has their own story to tell.

To suppose this doesn't apply to famous people is snobbery pure and simple.”

Margaret Hoffman

PreVioUs winner: 2015 Me and My Mate Jeffrey by Niall Breslin

Fat Chance Louise McSharry Louise McSharry's passion is to talk to young women about being a woman in the modern world.

Drawing on her own experience, she writes about everything from a messed-up childhood, to crashing out of education, to figuring out sex, weight, feminism, make-up, friendship, workplace politics and a whole lot more.

Penguin Ireland

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Adventures of a Wonky-Eyed Boy Jason Byrne “As she was handed me by the midwife, my mother wept for all the wrong reasons. She could have slept with a platypus and I still would have come out better than this.”

So begins Jason Byrne’s hilarious memoir that captures the adventures of an accident-prone youngster in 1970s and 1980s suburban Dublin.

Gill Books

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N BOOK OF THE YEAR

Making It Up As I Go Along Marian Keyes A brilliant collection of Marian's hilarious and often heartfelt observations on modern life, love and everything in between. Marian will have you gasping with recognition throughout because at the end of the day, we’re all making it up as we go along.

Michael Joseph

Talking to Strangers Michael Harding

Pippa Pippa O'Connor

After a stint in the Gaiety Theatre, Michael Harding went home and began to contemplate building an extension to give his life a sense of purpose. But as the walls of his home crumbled he fell into that great darkness where life feels like nothing more than a waste of time.

Pippa O'Connor's easy style and approachability has won her a huge and loyal following. Now she shares her top tips and insights for how to live well, look good and feel great. The book is for everyone who wants to discover their own personal style and to build the confidence to celebrate it.

Hachette Books Ireland

Penguin Ireland

Mr Pussy: Before I Forget to Remember Alan Amsby with David Kenny Before Panti Bliss and Miss Candy, Alan Amsby a.k.a.

Mr Pussy blazed a trail across 1970s Catholic Ireland with his outrageous alter ego, demolishing homophobic barriers from Belfast to Baltimore.

Lauded as being the first to introduce drag to Ireland, Mr Pussy is still selling out shows across the country.

New Island Books

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the national BooK toKens

NON-FICTION BOOK “Writing non-fiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing.”

Joan Didion I Read the News Today, Oh Boy Paul Howard

THE ONLY GIFT CARD WELCOMED IN BOOKSHOPS ACROSS IRELAND recent winners: 2015 Children of the Rising by Joe Duffy 2014 The Life and Loves of a He Devil: A Memoir by Graham Norton 2013 Staring at Lakes by Michael Harding 2012 Country Girl by Edna O’Brien 2011 Easy Meals by Rachel Allen

Tara Browne lived fast, died young and was immortalised in the Beatles’ song 'A Day in the Life'. But who was John Lennon's lucky man who made the grade and then blew his mind out in a car?

Author Paul Howard has recreated the extraordinary story of a young Irishman who epitomised the spirit of Swinging London.

Picador

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Ireland: The Autobiography Edited by John Bowman A portrait of a century of Irish life through the words of the people who lived it. Broadcaster and historian John Bowman has mined archives, diaries and memoirs to create a varied mosaic of voices and perspectives, a wide-ranging and engrossing take on the last century of Irish life.

Penguin Ireland

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OF THE YEAR

The Hurley Maker's Son Patrick Deeley

The Supreme Court Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

Patrick Deeley’s measured prose describes his rural childhood in a series of moments, from the intricate workings of the timber workshop run by his father to his mother’s steady work on an old Singer sewing machine. This is an enchanting, beautifully written account of family, love, loss and the unstoppable march of time.

The work of the Supreme Court is at the heart of the private and public life of the nation.

With unprecedented access, awardwinning Irish Times journalist Ruadhán Mac Cormaic reveals the court's hidden world. This is an important account of one of the most powerful institutions of our state.

Doubleday Ireland

Penguin Ireland

Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir John Banville & Paul Joyce Alternating between vignettes of John Banville's own past, and present-day historical explorations of the city, Time Pieces is a vivid evocation of childhood and memory, and a tender and powerful ode to a formative time and place for the artist as a young man. Includes images of the city by photographer Paul Joyce.

When Ideas Matter Michael D. Higgins In a series of remarkable and visionary speeches, President Michael D. Higgins has urged his fellow citizens to consider what makes an ethical republic. He has asked how human rights, an active and empowered citizenry, women's equality and the right to health might be achieved. This is an urgent call to action.

Head of Zeus

Hachette Books Ireland

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the aVonMore

COOKBOOK OF THE “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

Julia Child

Natural Born Feeder Roz Purcell

recent winners: 2015 The Virtuous Tart by Susan Jane White 2014 The Nation’s Favourite Food Fast!

by Neven Maguire 2013 30 Years of Ballymaloe by Darina Allen 2012 Eat Like An Italian by Catherine Fulvio

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The Brother Hubbard Cookbook Garret Fitzgerald

Having developed a negative relationship with food, Roz Purcell changed her lifestyle by rediscovering her love of cooking. She used her passion for food to develop amazing recipes that fuel the body, providing the energy needed to look and feel great.

For Roz, a healthy lifestyle isn’t about extremes, it’s about balance.

This book is about bringing a simple, exciting, creative influence to your kitchen. Leaning towards aspects of Middle Eastern and Southern Mediterranean food, The Brother Hubbard Cookbook emphasises flavour, colour, texture and creativity, for pure and nutritious food, often deceptively vegetarian and certainly wholesome.

Gill Books

Gill Books

YEAR

The Little Green Spoon Indy Power Indy Power aims to make mealtimes as simple as possible, and has marked every dish with vegan, paleo, gluten-free and dairy-free symbols so that you can easily identify the perfect food for you.

Her recipes will make you fall in love with healthy food that’s easy, accessible and perfect for sharing with family and friends.

Ebury Press

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Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook Neven Maguire Food is at the very centre of family life, and when it comes to mealtimes, parents want to do the best they can.

With 300 failsafe recipes, this new definitive collection gives you all the inspiration and help you need to make life in the kitchen easier and more enjoyable.

Gill Books

Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown Sophie White Part cookbook, part memoir, part selfhelp manual, this is a refreshingly honest take on the life of a modern woman, and the perfect companion for laughing about the silly stuff, crying about the sad stuff, staring down our own personal madness and getting on with it (all while eating some delicious food along the way).

Gill Books

The World of the Happy Pear Stephen & David Flynn David and Stephen Flynn put fun, deliciousness and friendship at the heart of their cooking. By showing that vegetarian food is endlessly varied, packed full of flavour and easy to prepare they want to spread the love for fruit and veg!

This book is inspired by family, friends and the international team at their legendary café.

Penguin Ireland

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IN MEMORIAM this year, sadly, the irish book trade lost two well-beloved stalwarts in Jeremy addis, the founding publisher of Books ireland and robert Dunbar the critic, editor and champion of irish children’s literature.

JEREMY ADDIS

T J

eremy Addis founded Books Ireland in Co Kilkenny in 1976 and was its presiding genius for four decades. Reflecting on his long association with the magazine in an article for The Irish Times, Jeremy wrote “Books Ireland established itself on the Irish publishing scene and gave not only muchneeded publicity to smaller Irish publishers who found it hard to get space in the mainstream media, but also attracted wellknown Irish writers, such as Maeve Binchy and Neil Jordan, and more recently the likes of John Banville, Joseph O’Connor and Eithne Shortall. Magazines and newspapers can publish reviews of only a fraction of books submitted. Since the first issue, we included a list of ‘books received’. My first act as editor was to turn this into the First Flush column, where every book was accorded a description in 100 or 200 words – i.e. a mini-review. unexpectedly, First Flush proved to be the mainstay of the magazine and the reason many subscribe to it.”

The Books Ireland website commented, “Jeremy was working, writing and reading up until the time of his death and his lifelong commitment and worthy

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contribution to the world of Irish books cannot be overstated. He was a true inspiration to the spirit of never giving up and will be greatly missed.” Another friend and colleague spoke for us all when she placed his work “at the heart of the Irish literary blossoming of the late 20th century.”

ROBERT DUNBAR

T R

obert Dunbar championed Irish children’s literature throughout a long and distinguished literary career. He reviewed children’s fiction for The Irish Times for more than 27 years and was a founding member of Children’s Books Ireland. He lectured in English and children’s literature, presented a weekly radio programme on children’s books and edited two anthologies, Enchanted Journeys: Fifty Years of Irish Writing for Children and Skimming, both published by O’Brien Press.

He also edited Inis magazine, was a Bisto Book of the Year Awards judge and received a CBI Lifetime Achievement Award.

Without his support there are many of us who would never have managed to sustain a career. He was literate, supportive, always fair but never ever mean.”

Robert Dunbar was an inspiration. He will be sadly missed.

Jenny Murray, acting director of Children’s Books Ireland, said: “It is with great sadness that Children’s Books Ireland acknowledges the passing of our friend, patron and children’s books champion, the irreplaceable Robert Dunbar. Robert was knowledgeable about many things, very wise and very, very funny - and of course enormously well-read. He was a pioneer in the study of children’s books in Ireland and to most people, he simply was children’s literature in Ireland.”

P.J. Lynch, the current Laureate na nÓg, said: “Robert was a passionate advocate for quality in children’s books over many years. In his academic writing and lectures he was always erudite and reasoned, but he could be direct and very funny as well when he was sharing his love of a good story told in witty or beautiful language.”

with thanks to P.J. lynch for the illustration of robert Dunbar.

Eoin Colfer, his predecessor, said: “Robert was the champion of children’s books.

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2016 29

the BorD gáis energy

SPORTS BOOK OF TH “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back.

That's real glory. That's the essence of it.”

Vince Lombardi Blood, Sweat & McAteer Jason McAteer

recent winners: 2015 Until Victory Always: A Memoir by Jim McGuinness 2014 The Test by Brian O’Driscoll 2013 Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh 2012 My Olympic Dream by Katie Taylor 2011 Inside the Peloton by Nicolas Roche

From World Cup 1994 to Saipan in 2002; from his heyday with Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers; the move to Sunderland, and the depression he fell into after finishing his professional career, Jason McAteer looks back with characteristic honesty on his life the jokes, the matches, and the personalities.

Hachette Books Ireland

Coolmore Stud: Ireland's Greatest Sporting Success Story Alan Conway Founded by the legendary Vincent O'Brien, and now managed by John Magnier, Coolmore Stud has grown from a small breeding farm into a global behemoth, renowned the world over for the quality of the horses it produces. Alan Conway charts the rise of one of Ireland's greatest sporting success stories.

Mercier Press

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E YEAR

My Life in Rugby Donal Lenihan As player, manager, and pundit, Donal Lenihan has seen it all in the world of rugby – and done much of it too. Here he expresses forthright views on the modern game, and how the transition from the amateur to the professional era has affected the heart and soul of rugby.

Transworld Ireland

watch the awarDs on rté one SATuRDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

Out of Control Cathal McCarron with Christy O'Connor Cathal McCarron is a talented Tyrone footballer, but for years he hid a dark secret. This remarkable tale of hidden demons underlines the terrible pressures imposed upon amateur players.

McCarron recalls his journey with searing honesty, from depression and suicidal thoughts to the path taken back to recovery and rehabilitation.

The Battle Paul O'Connell

Win or Learn John Kavanagh

As a player Paul O'Connell is synonymous with passion, heart and determination; but he’s also the thinking man's rugby player, a legendary student of the game.

O'Connell has emerged as perhaps the most beloved of the golden generation of Irish rugby players. The Battle tells the story of his remarkable career.

John Kavanagh’s remarkable life story runs parallel to the extraordinary upward track of MMA globally.

Employing the motto 'win or learn', Kavanagh has become MMA’s goto guru. As trainer of the world's most charismatic champion, Conor McGregor, Kavanagh has made his gym a Mecca for fighters from all over the world.

Penguin Ireland

Penguin Ireland

Simon & Schuster

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2016 31

the sPecsaVers

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray Go throw your TV set away And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall...”

Roald Dahl

recent winners: 2015 Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer & Oliver Jeffers 2014 Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton 2013 When You Were Born by Benji Bennett 2012 This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers 2011 The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge

A Child of Books Sam Winston & Oliver Jeffers A little girl invites a small boy to come on an adventure.

His new friend unlocks the boy’s imagination and a lifetime of magic lies ahead of him.

Elegant illustrations

by Oliver Jeffers are accompanied by Sam Winston's astonishing typographical landscapes, creating a gorgeous gift book perfect for readers of all ages.

Walker Books

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Rabbit & Bear: Rabbit's Bad Habits Julian Gough & Jim Field Bear wakes up early from hibernation, and decides to make a snowman. Rabbit wants to make one that's better than Bear's. But with an avalanche and a hungry wolf heading his way, Rabbit soon realises that it might be nice to have a friend on your side.

Especially when it comes to building snowmen...

Hachette Children’s Group

watch the awarDs on rté one SATuRDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

THE YEAR JUnior

Rover and the Big Fat Baby Roddy Doyle Rover the wonder dog returns in a new adventure. Can Rover and his little nephew Messi track down the missing Big Fat Baby? While they are hot on the trail, via Granny Mack's backpack, the post lady's basket and a plane bound for Africa, it looks like the Gigglers are about to run out of poo...

Pan Macmillan

Pigín of Howth Kathleen Watkins Pigín lives in Howth, a beautiful seaside town, and he’s a very popular pig about town. He’s friendly, curious, impeccably dressed and has the nicest manners a pig could possibly have.

Destined to be a classic, the first children’s book from Kathleen Watkins brings to life the Pigín stories she created for her grandchildren.

Gill Books

Goodnight Everyone Chris Haughton A series of exquisitely coloured cut pages of increasing size introduce woodland families who are all beginning to feel really... rather... tired... YAWN! With sublime, starry night time scenes and an infectious yawny "Good night" refrain, Chris Haughton creates a lulling bedtime read, perfect for parents and children to share together.

Historopedia Fatti & John Burke Time travellers of all ages will be totally absorbed by Fatti and John Burke’s new adventure through Ireland’s past. A perfect introduction to Ireland’s history for young and old, this illustrated journey travels from earliest settlements right up to the present day.

Era by era, Ireland is revealed as you’ve never seen it before.

Gill Books

Walker Books

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2016 33

the sPecsaVers

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF “Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than to buy them the whole world!”

Neil Gaiman

recent winners: 2015 Asking For It by by Louise O’Neill 2014 Moone Boy by Chris O’Dowd & Nick V. Murphy 2013 Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy 2012 Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer 2011 The Real Rebecca by Anna Carey

Needlework Deirdre Sullivan Ces longs to be a tattoo artist and embroider skin with beautiful images.

But for now she's just trying to reach adulthood without falling apart.

Powerful, poetic and disturbing, Needlework is a girl's meditation on her efforts to maintain her bodily and spiritual integrity in the face of abuse, violation and neglect.

Little Island Books

Knights of the Borrowed Dark Dave Rudden Denizen Hardwick doesn't believe in magic – until he's ambushed by a monster created from shadows.

Fortunately, between us and the shadows stand a secret army that protects the world, the Knights of the Borrowed Dark. unfortunately for Denizen, he's one of them... This is the first book in an exciting new series.

Puffin

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watch the awarDs on rté one SATuRDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

THE YEAR senior

Flawed Cecelia Ahern Celestine lives a perfect life. But then she breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions.

She could be imprisoned. She could be branded.

She could be found flawed. In a society in which perfection is paramount and mistakes are punished, one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

The Book of Shadows E.R. Murray

Nothing Tastes as Good Claire Hennessy

The Making of Mollie Anna Carey

In this follow-up to The Book of Learning, heroine Ebony Smart is settling into her role as guardian for the Order of Nine Lives.

She discovers that her enemies are determined to steal her soul and control the fate of the world. Can she find the strength and courage needed to defeat them?

Annabel is dead.

And she's not happy about it. Despite having strived to be 'lighter than air' back when she was alive, the consequences of that yearning haven't quite sunk in yet. Assigned as a ghostly helper to a troubled former schoolmate, she is forced to reconsider her ideas of happiness.

It’s 1912, and 14year-old Mollie lives in Drumcondra with her family. Mollie’s convinced that her life is boring – until she discovers that her sister is a secret suffragette. After attending a suffrage meeting, Mollie and her best friend want to help the movement too.

At last, they have some excitement in their lives!

Hot Key Books

The O'Brien Press

Mercier Press

HarperCollins Children's Books

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2016 35

We’re looking for out of this world stories...

Specsavers, together with the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2016, invites you to write a short story inspired by this picture. You could win all the shortlisted books entered in the Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year Award 2016 and €1,000 for your school.

How to enter All you have to do is write a short story based on the themes hinted at through this cartoon. Please follow these instructions: • Make sure that your story is no longer than 500 words (250 words are enough if you are under 12 years-old) • Give your story a title • The story should not be an account of any real life events; include personal details of any living individual; or your own personal details.

• Write your story (preferably type it) on a sheet of A4 paper and staple it to this form.

• Send your entry to the competition address below.

• All stories should be submitted in English.

Groups of school entries are also welcomed.

The closing date for the competition is Sunday 11 December 2016. Good luck!

Prizes The two winning entrants (one aged under 12 years and one aged 12-16 years) will be given all of the books shortlisted for the Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year Award 2016. Their school libraries will also receive a donation of some of the best Irish books from the past year and €1,000 for their school.

Name:

Age:

Tel:

Address: Parent or guardian’s name and telephone number: Story title: Name of school:

Entries should be posted to Specsavers short story competition, c/o WHPR, 6 Ely Place, Dublin 2 or submitted online at specsavers.ie/irish-book-awards

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The prizes: There are two prizes available, each consisting of all the books shortlisted for the Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year Award 2016 (a category of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2016), plus €1,000 payable to the winner’s school. The competition is open to entrants up to the age of 16 and there is one prize available for each of the two categories; Junior (under 12 years-old on the closing date) and Senior (12-16 years-old on the closing date). Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested. Each entrant must be a resident of the Republic of Ireland. The competition is not open to the families of employees of the Specsavers Group or anyone professionally associated with the competition. Please obtain your parent, guardian, or teacher’s consent to enter. Specsavers does not accept any responsibility for late, lost, or ineligible entries. Proof of posting is not proof of receipt. Only one competition entry per person.

All entries must be received by Sunday 11 December 2016. Winners and / or their parent or guardian will be contacted by telephone. Specsavers reserves the right to reallocate either prize if the winner cannot be contacted after at least three attempts to do so. No purchase required.

Winners’ names can be obtained upon request in writing from WHPR, 6 Ely Place, Dublin 2. Entrants must be willing to take part in all competition publicity and agree to have their story published. In consideration of providing the competition, each entrant grants a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual licence to Specsavers to feature any or all of the submitted stories and images taken of the winner in connection with the

competition, in any publications and / or in any promotional material connected to the competition. This includes all online, social media and additional platforms owned or utilised by Specsavers. Entries will not be returned. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges whose decisions will be final and there will be no correspondence. The story that the judges consider to be the most creative and well-written story will win.

Prizes are non-transferable, cannot be exchanged and no cash alternative will be offered. Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and agree to abide by them upon entering the competition. This competition is promoted by Specsavers Optical Group Limited, La Villiaze, St Andrew’s, Guernsey, Channel Islands, GY6 8YP. These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

PERSONAL DATA: obtained in the process of the competition will be used for the purposes of administering the competition and will be held by the Specsavers group either manually or electronically. The information will be restricted to authorised users only and treated in the strictest confidence. Specsavers will provide the personal data of the winners to Irish Book Awards Limited. All winners’ names will be available on request and publicised by Specsavers.

Specsavers Group cannot accept responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with the server, internet access or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost, not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

the writing.ie

SHORT STORY OF THE Photo: Tom Routh

“A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.”

Lorrie Moore

recent winners: 2015 A Slanting of the Sun by Donal Ryan 2014 Rest Day by John Boyne 2013 The Things We Lose The Things We Leave Behind

by Billy O’Callaghan

Here We Are Lucy Caldwell

Green, Amber, Red Jane Casey

Lucy Caldwell was born in Belfast in 1982. She’s the author of three novels and several stage plays and radio dramas. Her awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Two other stories from Multitudes have also been shortlisted for prestigious prizes.

Born and raised in Dublin, Jane Casey published her first novel, The Missing, in 2010. She also published the first in her Maeve Kerrigan series in that year.

She has been shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards many times and won Best Crime Novel in 2015. She has also published a number of titles for young adults, most recently Hide and Seek (2015).

From: Multitudes Publisher: Faber & Faber

From: Trouble is Our Business Publisher: New Island

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reaD all six short stories online at writing.ie

YEAR AWARD

The Visit Orla McAlinden

K-K-K Lauren Foley

The Birds of June John Connell

Orla McAlinden is a new voice in Irish writing. Her awardwinning debut collection The Accidental Wife is available to order at independent bookshops or through Amazon.

She is the 2016 recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis emerging writer bursary from Kildare County Arts Service.

Lauren Foley is Irish and Australian. Her stories have been published in Australia, New Zealand, the uK and Ireland. Lauren won the inaugural Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize with Overland Literary Journal, for her short story, K-KK and she is currently shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award.

John Connell is a writer and producer.

His debut novel The Ghost Estate was published in 2015.

He lives in rural Ireland and is currently working on a short story collection and non-fiction book about his family’s beef farm.

From: The Accidental Wife Publisher: Sowilo Press

From: Overland #222 Publisher: OL Society

From Granta 135: New Irish Writing Publisher: Granta Magazine

What a River Remembers of its Course Gerard Beirne Gerard Beirne has published six books of fiction and poetry. His novel The Eskimo in the Net was shortlisted for The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and his recent collection of stories, In a Time of Drought and Hunger, for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award 2015.

From: Numero Cinq Magazine Publisher: Numero Cinq Magazine

“At the heart of Irish writing online, Writing.ie is a global platform, promoting established authors while drawing on their wisdom and experience to provide unparalleled resources for new and aspiring writers. We’re thrilled that the Short Story of the Year shortlist reflects this each year, featuring both stellar names in the world of Irish Fiction as well as new and exciting emerging voices.”

Vanessa Fox o’loughlin, Founder of writing.ie

the listowel writers’ weeK

IRISH POEM OF THE “I have always thought of poems as stepping stones in one's own sense of oneself.”

Seamus Heaney

PresenteD For the First tiMe in 2016

In Glasnevin Jane Clarke

Patagonia Emma McKervey

Roscommon and Wicklow poet Jane Clarke has won many poetry prizes including the 2016 Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry, the 2014 Listowel Writers' Week Poetry Collection Award and the 2014 Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition.

Her first collection, The River, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015.

Emma McKervey is from Co. Down and studied at Dartington College of Arts. She lives in Holywood, Co. Down and after careers in music, community arts, and teaching, has returned to her first love of poetry. Her work has been published in Ireland and internationally.

Published in The Irish Times

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Published in The Compass Magazine

YEAR

reaD all PoeMs online at writersweeK.ie

about listowel writers’ week: an internationally acclaimed literary festival devoted to bringing together writers and audiences at unique and innovative events in the historic and intimate surroundings of listowel county Kerry.

Suppose I lost Andrew Soye Andrew Soye is from Armagh. His poetry has been published in magazines in Ireland and in the uK. His poem Kigali won the Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition in 2014 and he is currently preparing his first collection.

Published in Abridged Magazine

Love / Hotel / Love Michael Naghten Shanks Michael Naghten Shanks is a poet and editor from Dublin.

He is the editor of the online literary journal Bohemyth.

His work has been published in many literary magazines and his debut pamphlet, Year of the Ingénue, was published by Eyewear Publishing in 2015.

Photo: John Kelliher

the next listowel writers’ week takes place 31st May – 4th June 2017. writersweek.ie

Published in Poetry Ireland Review

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2016 41

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