Culture
28 Nov 25

Michael D. Higgins, the late Manchán Magan and more among An Post Irish Book Awards winners

President Michael D. Higgins on October 10th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

See the full list of winners below.

Former President Michael D. Higgins, the late broadcaster Manchán Magan and rugby player Andrew Porter were among the winners at this year's An Post Irish Book awards.

Having published five poetry collections and and number of collections of essays and speeches, Michael D. Higgins was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award.

Former recipients of the award include Anne Enright, Maeve Binchy, Colm Tóibín, Edna O'Brien and Seamus Heaney.

"Accepting this award is a prestigious honor, and one that I receive with humility, given the lifetime of achievements of previous awardees," said the former President.

Magan, who died in October, won TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year for Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), written by Magan, and illustrated by Megan Luddy.

"For such a simple book in its essence, it represents so much more than 100 words," said his wife Aisling Rogerson, who collected the award. "It's really a shining example of the interest at the moment in the revival of the Irish language that is so powerfully present right now."

Meanwhile, Porter won the Eason Sports Book of the Year award from his autobiography Heart on My Sleeve.

"Hopefully this will help people who have had their own mental health struggles," he said. "I've kind of explained mine in the book, and it's hard to put into words, but winning is incredibly surreal."

Author Cecelia Ahern took home the WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year award for her novel Paper Heart and best-selling crime author Andrea Mara earned The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year for It Should Have Been You.

This year's overall An Post Irish Book of the Year is set to be announced on December 11 during an RTÉ special broadcast.

See the full list of winners below.

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) – Manchán Magan, illustrated by Megan Luddy (Gill Books)

Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe – Jacqueline Connolly with Kathryn Rogers (Hachette Books Ireland)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

Sophie’s Swaps – Sophie Morris (Gill Books)

Eason Sports Book of the Year

Heart on My Sleeve – Andrew Porter (Eriu)

Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year

Great Irish Wives – Nicola Pierce (The O’Brien Press)

Dubray Biography of the Year

A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing – Sarah Corbett Lynch (Hachette Books Ireland)

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

The Ghosts of Rome – Joseph O’Connor (Harvill, Penguin)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year - Junior

Run Home, Little Fox – Tom McCaughren and Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin (The O’Brien Press)