The Winners Of The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards Have Been Announced!

Christmas is around the corner, and now we know who’ll be on our reading lists over the break. Bernard MacLaverty, Marian Keyes, Judi Curtin, Rory O Connell and Ruth Fitzmaurice were some of the winning authors named at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards held in Dublin this week. For over a decade the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards have been championing incredible Irish stories and talent and this year was no exception.

Now in its 12^th year, the star-studded awards ceremony took place in Dublin’s Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road and was attended by some of Ireland’s top writers, publishers and booksellers including Sinéad Moriarty, John Banville, Roddy Doyle, Eoin Colfer, Paul Howard, and more.

We were thrilled to see that Bernard MacLaverty’s first novel in over 15 years Midwinter Break; a beautiful tome about an ageing, estranged Irish couple on holiday in Amsterdam, won the coveted Novel of the Year prize while another IMAGE favourite, The Break by Marian Keyes, also about an Irish couple – and one who takes a break from their marriage – won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year. Another must-read is the soaring I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice, which won Newcomer of the Year.

Below is the full list of winners, all of which should make any fellow bookworms happy (and easy to buy gifts for) this Christmas:

TheJournal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year

• Atlas of the Revolution – John Crowley, Donál Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo (Cork University Press)

National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)

• A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea – Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood – Sarah Webb illustrated by Steve Mc Carthy (The O’ Brien Press)

National Book Tokens Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)

• Stand by Me – Judi Curtin (The O’ Brien Press)

Dept 51@Eason Teen / Young Adult Book of the Year

• Tangleweed and Brine – Deirdre Sullivan illustrated Karen Vaughan (Little Island)

Eason Book Club Novel of the Year

• Midwinter Break – Bernard MacLaverty (Johnathan Cape)

Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year

• The Break – Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph)

Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year

• The Therapy House – Julie Parsons (New Island Books)

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

• I Found my Tribe – Ruth Fitzmaurice (Chatto & Windus)

Onside Non-Fiction Book of the Year

• Wounds: A Memoir of War & Love – Fergal Keane (Williams Collins)

Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year

• Motherfocloir – Darach Ó Séaghdha (Head of Zeus)

EUROSPAR Cookbook of the Year

• Cook Well, Eat Well – Rory O’ Connell (Gill Books)

Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year

• The Choice – Philly McMahon with Niall Kelly (Gill Books)

RTE Radio One’s The Ryan Tubridy Show Listener’s Choice Award

• he: A novel – John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)

Listowel Writer’s Week Irish Poem of the Year

• Seven Sugar Cubes – Clodagh Beresford (From the Irish Times)

Writing,ie Short Story of the Year

• Back to Bones – Christine Dwyer Hickey (Longlisted for Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award)

Main image by Thought Catalog on Unsplash