Mike McCormack wins book of the year at Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards

MrCormack's Solar Bones tells the story of a dead man returning to his hometown to look back at his life. Beginning with one single sentence, the story spirals out from the narrator's home in Mayo into the rest of the world, showing the collapsing and reshaping of human and social structures.

Last week, the Galway-based author’s first novel in 11 years won the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize in London. McCromick described this money as “payback” for his small Dublin-based publisher Tramp Press and his agent who had backed him during his “long and difficult adventure” as a writer.

Marian Keyes, Graham Norton, Paul O’Connell and Tana French were also among the winning authors announced in Dublin on Wednesday. Graham Norton won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year for Holding and Making It Up As I Go Along by Marian Keyes won Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

Renowned poet John Montague was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award and bestselling author Jilly Cooper received the Bord Gáis Energy International Recognition Award.

More than 45,000 readers voted to select the winners in each category. The public can vote for their overall Book of the Year at bgeirishbookawards.ie until December 9th.

Book Club Novel of the Year: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Tramp Press)

Best Irish Published Book of the Year: The Glass Shore edited by Sinéad Gleeson (New Island Books)

Newcomer of the Year: Red Dirt by EM Reapy (Head of Zeus)

Non-Fiction Book of the Year: I Read The News Today, Oh Boy by Paul Howard (Picador)

Ryan Tubridy’s Listener’s Choice Award: Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent (Penguin Ireland)

Children’s Book of the Year: Junior – Pigín of Howth by Kathleen Watkins, illustrated by Margaret Anne Suggs (Gill Books); Senior – Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden (Puffin)

Cookbook of the Year: The World of The Happy Pear by Stephen and David Flynn (Penguin Ireland)

Popular Fiction Book of the Year: Holding by Graham Norton (Hodder & Stoughton)

Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year: Making It Up As I Go Along by Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph)

Sports Book of the Year: The Battle by Paul O’Connell (Penguin Ireland)

Crime Fiction Book of the Year: The Trespasser by Tana French (Hachette Ireland)

Short Story of the Year: The Visit by Orla McAlinden (Sowilo Press)

Irish Poem of the Year: In Glasnevin by Jane Clarke (From The Irish Times)