John Creedon, Louise Kennedy and Edel Coffey among winners of An Post Irish Book Awards 2022

The winners of this year's An Post Irish Book Awards were announced last night at a ceremony held in the Convention Centre, Dublin.

Among the winners was Louise Kennedy, whose Trespasses – praised for its "funny, poignant, well-observed, and, crucially, impartial story-telling" by Pat Carty in Hot Press – took home the award for Novel of the Year.

John Creedon's An Irish Folklore Treasury won Best Irish-Published Book of the Year, while Biography of the Year went to Charlie Bird for his powerful memoir, Time and Tide, written with Ray Burke.

Olympic champion boxer Kellie Harrington, meanwhile, was awarded Sports Book of the Year for her memoir Kellie, written with Roddy Doyle.

Edel Coffey, who contributed to our My Reading Of It series on the Hot Press YouTube channel, won Crime Fiction Book of the Year for her acclaimed, best-selling novel, Breaking Point.

Anne Enright with presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award – joining a host of other distinguished recipients, such as JP Donleavy, Séamus Heaney, Sebastian Barry, Colm Toibín, Thomas Kinsella, Eavan Boland, John Montague, Paul Durcan, John Banville, Maeve Binchy, John McGahern, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor, and Jennifer Johnston.

“Our industry has worked so hard to grow the awards from something quite small into the behemoth it has become today and we are immensely proud of what we’ve achieved through a broad coalition of readers, writers, publishers, sponsors, booksellers and librarians," comments Brenden Corbett, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards. "Some wonderful books have been published this year, many by established literary stars, but also by an astonishing number of talented newcomers who seem to spring fully-formed on to the Irish literary scene every year. We are delighted to congratulate the winners with their An Post Irish Book Awards.”

A one-hour television special will be broadcast on RTÉ One on December 7, to reveal this year's overall An Post Irish Book of the Year 2022.

The nominees for Irish Book of the Year are Louise Kennedy's Trespasses; Marian Keyes' Again, Rachel; Charlie Bird's Time and Tide, with Ray Burke; Sally Hayden's My Fourth Time, We Drowned; Kellie Harrington's Kellie, with Roddy Doyle; and Ellen Ryan's Girls Who Slay Monsters.

See the full list of winners from last's night ceremony below:

Novel of the Year: Trespasses – Louise Kennedy

Best Irish-Published Book of the Year: An Irish Folklore Treasury – John Creedon

Non-fiction Book of the Year: My Fourth Time, We Drowned – Sally Hayden

Lifestyle Book of the Year: An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding – Eoghan Daltun

Cookbook of the Year: The Daly Dish: Bold Food Made Good – Gina and Karol Daly

Sports Book of the Year: Kellie – Kellie Harrington, with Roddy Doyle

Biography of the Year: Time and Tide – Charlie Bird, with Ray Burke

Children’s Book of the Year – Junior: Our Big Day – Bob Johnston, illustrated by Michael Emberley

Children’s Book of the Year – Senior: Girls Who Slay Monsters – Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald

Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year: Let’s Talk – Richie Sadlier

Irish Bookshop of the Year: Bridge Street Books, Wicklow

Irish Language Book of the Year: EL – Thaddeus Ó Buachalla

Poem of the Year: Wedding Dress – Martina Dalton

Short Story of the Year: This Small Giddy Life – Nuala O’Connor

Crime Fiction Book of the Year: Breaking Point – Edel Coffey

Popular Fiction Book of the Year: Again, Rachel – Marian Keyes

Newcomer of the Year: There’s Been a Little Incident – Alice Ryan

Author of the Year: John Boyne

What does it feel like to win an An Post Irish Book Award?

Congrats to all the 2022 winners - what a celebration of Irish writing 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #APIBA #ReadersWanted @AnPostIBAS pic.twitter.com/UWiP2sBWxk

— An Post (@Postvox) November 23, 2022