Shortlist unveiled for An Post Irish Book Awards 2026

The shortlist for the 2026 An Post Irish Book Awards has been unveiled, including Maggie O'Farrell, Djamel White, Nikita Hand, Donal Ryan and more.

The list features a diverse mix of both new and established writers and illustrators across 19 categories. It also includes Ciara Mageean, Vincent Browne, Liz Nugent, James McClean, Katriona O'Sullivan, Colm Tóibin, Louise Kennedy, Darach Ó Scolaí, Cassie Stokes, Kyla Cobbler and more.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Dublin's Convention Centre on December 1.

The announcement of the overall An Post Irish Book of the Year winner will be broadcast on RTÉ One on December 10 in a one-hour television special, hosted by Oliver Callan.

The 19 categories cover a range of genres, including Novel of the Year, Best Irish-Published, Children's (Junior and Senior), History, Newcomer, Lifestyle, Crime Fiction, Biography, Popular Fiction, Non-Fiction, Sports, Teen and Young Adult and Irish Language.

The Best Short Story and Best Poetry award categories will also continue their partnership with the Irish Independent's New Irish Writing competition, which was introduced in 2024. All eight shortlisted writers in both categories will receive an Irish Book Awards package of support at the Irish Writers Centre, to help them develop their careers through mentoring and courses.

"As we celebrate the Awards’ 21st anniversary, it is fantastic to see such a strong mix of established and new writers represented across the categories, alongside the publishers, illustrators and booksellers who play such an important role in bringing these stories to readers," said Sinéad McCorry, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards.

"We’re particularly pleased to continue our partnership with the Irish Independent through the Best Short Story and Best Poetry categories. Creating opportunities for emerging voices is an important part of the Awards."

The public are now being invited to cast their vote for their favourite books of the year here. All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Tokens.

See the shortlist below:

Eason Novel of the Year

• Land – Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)
• Stations – Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury Circus)
• All Them Dogs – Djamel White (John Murray)
• Where Are the Kings – Donal Ryan (Doubleday)
• Other People’s Lives – Kathleen MacMahon (Sandycove)
• The Newer World – Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)
• Few and Far Between – Jan Carson (Doubleday)
• The Weight of Angels – John Boyne (Doubleday)

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

• Seeing What’s Hidden – Manchán Magan (Gill Books)
• The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census - Edited by Orlaith McBride and John Gibney (Irish Academic Press)
• Irish Sport in 100 Objects – Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press)
• An Asylum for My Affections – Sketches of Maeve Brennan – Edited by Molly Hennigan (New Island Books)
• A Letter Home - Kerby A. Miller and Breandán Mac Suibhne (Gill Books)
• Birdstyle – Gordon D’Arcy (Dingle Publishing)

Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year

• The Plot Against Ireland – Myles Dungan (Apollo)
• The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census - Edited by Orlaith McBride and John Gibney (Irish Academic Press)
• A History of Ireland in 100 Stamps – Max Barrett (The O’Brien Press)
• A Rebel and a Traitor – Rory Carroll (HarperNonFiction)
• Catalpa – Michael B. Barry (Gill Books)
• The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence – Louise Brangan (Vintage Publishing)

Dubray Biography of the Year

• Home Economics: A Memoir – Caitríona Lally (New Island Books)
• John McGahern: A Writing Life – Frank Shovlin (Faber & Faber)
• No One Tells You: The Last Years of Edna O’Brien – Carlo Gébler (New Island Books)
• Charles Haughey: Glory, Greed and Guns – Vincent Browne (Eriu)
• Talk to Joe: Life, Liveline and Me – Joe Duffy (Hachette Books Ireland)
• A Bigger Life – Louise O’Neill (HarperCollins)
• Not the Perfect Victim – Nikita Hand with Kathryn Rogers (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Seán Lemass: The Lost Memoir – Edited by Ronan McGreevy (Eriu)

Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year

• Said the Dead – Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Faber and Faber)
• The Most Normal Woman: Essays on Appearances – Roisín Kiberd (Tramp Press)
• Opening Night – Sara Baume (Granta Books)
• This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World – Sally Hayden (4^thEstate)
• A Sheepdog Named Oscar – Dara Waldron (Simon & Schuster)
• A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991– 2026 – Martin Doyle (The Lilliput Press)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

• Best of Ireland – Cassie Stokes (DK Books)
• Sophie’s Swaps Homemade Wins – Sophie Morris (DK Books)
• Finding Joy – Dearbhla Mescal (Eriu)
• Happy, Thank You. More, Please: How I got grateful, stayed mortified, and learned to trust the universe – Kyla Cobbler (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Eva Pau’s Asian Cookbook – Eva Pau (Murdoch Books)
• Now You Are Wonderful: A Celebration of Age, Freedom and Wisdom – Mary Kennedy (Hachette Books Ireland)

Eason Sports Book of the Year

• My Greatest Race – Ciara Mageean with Clíona Foley (Gill Books)
• All In – Peter O’Mahony with Dion Fanning (Sandycove)
• The Lost Sportswriter – Vincent Hogan (Gill Books)
• Mackey and Ring – Arthur James O’Dea (Gill Books)
• The Walls – James McClean with Daniel McDonnell (Sandycove)
• Zeebs: My Autobiography – Simon Zebo with Gerry Thornley (Eriu)

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

• Stations – Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury Circus)
• Land – Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)
• Experts in a Dying Field – Patrick Freyne (Sandycove)
• Be Like the Sea – Marie Gleeson with Orlaith Carmody (Gill Books)
• White Lines – Ryan Caldwell with Peter Lockhart (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Brian Cowen: Anatomy of a Taoiseach – Gary Murphy (Eriu)
• Hungry: A Biography of My Body – Katriona O’Sullivan (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Imitation Games: How Gambling Hijacked Sport – Darragh McGee (Vintage Publishing)

Library Association of Ireland Author / Illustrator of the Year

• Colm Tóibín – The News from Dublin (Picador)
• Doireann Ní Ghríofa – Said the Dead (Faber and Faber)
• Liz Nugent – The Truth About Ruby Cooper (Sandycove)
• Paddy Donnelly The Upside-Down Lighthouse (The O’Brien Press)
• P.J. Lynch – Deerheart (Walker)
• Sally Hayden – This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World (4^thEstate)

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

• All Them Dogs – Djamel White (John Murray)
• Esther is Now Following You – Tanya Sweeney (Bantam)
• The Visit – Neil Tully (Eriu)
• The Ballad of Ronan McCoy – Colin Morgan (HarperCollins)
• Wild Iris – Ruth McKee (Dedalus Ireland)
• Somewhere – Jessamine O’Connor (The Lilliput Press)
• The Lies Between Us – Jen Bray (Sandycove)
• Dirtpickers – Edie May Hand (Manilla)

The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year in association with The Irish Independent

• The Truth About Ruby Cooper – Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
• Everything She Didn’t Say – Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• One of Us Is Guilty – Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
• Such a Nice Girl – Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• In Glass Houses – Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Keeper – Tana French (Viking)
• Never to be Found – Jo Spain (Zaffre)
• If These Walls Could Talk – Michelle McDonagh (Hachette Books Ireland)

WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM

• A Nation Once Again – Paul Howard (Sandycove)
• The Expectation – A. O’Connor (Andrew O’Connor) (Poolbeg Press)
• Love Scene – Anna Carey (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Our Deadly Summer – Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• The Mini Breakers – Lucy Kennedy (Eriu)
• Love Unlocked – Cecelia Ahern (HarperFiction)
• A Plot to Die For – Ardal O’Hanlon (Simon & Schuster)
• Anywhere But Here – Vicki Notaro (Sandycove)

Children’s Book of the Year - Junior

• The Upside-Down Lighthouse – Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)
• Letters to a Giant – Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• I Am Not a Dog – Peter Donnelly (Gill Books)
• Swim, Little Otter – Tom McCaughren and Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin (The O’Brien Press)
• Rabbit and Bear: The Bog of Frogs – Julian Gough, illustrated by Jim Field (Orchard Books)
• The Starmaker – Catherine Doyle, illustrated by Paddy Donnelly (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• Little Passenger – Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Jessica Love (Walker Books)
• An Peata is Fearr – Patricia Forde, illustrated by Philip Cullen (Futa Fata)

Children’s Book of the Year – Senior

• Deerheart – Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P.J. Lynch (Walker)
• Millie McCarthy and the Doggy Daycare Drama – Leona Forde, illustrated by Karen Harte (Gill Books)
• Minotaur Boy - Shane Hegarty, illustrated by Ruby Fresson (DK Books)
• Murder at the Ivy Hotel – Emily Hourican (Scholastic)
• Nina Peanut: Major Drama Alert (Book 4) – Sarah Bowie (Scholastic)
• A Timeline of Irish History – Myles Dungan, illustrated by Sol Linero (Gill Books)
• Death Before Detention – Alison Weatherby, illustrated by Ellen Porteus (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• Epic Ireland – Kieran Fanning, illustrated by Alice Guidi (Gill Books)

International Education Services Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year, in honour of John Treacy

• Effie is Offline – Karen Harte (Gill Books)
• Shorelines – Ruth Ennis (Little Island Books)
• Runaway Road – Sue Divin (First Ink)
• Her Hidden Fire – Clíodhna O’Sullivan (Penguin)
• They Called Us Witch – Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Imogen Oh and Anastasia Stefurak (Harper Fire)
• From the Top, Sally Flynn – Méabh Collins (The O’Brien Press)
• Just Another Dead Boy – Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)
• Tom Burne Has Left the Chat – Seán Farrelly (Faber Children’s)

Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana

• Faraor Géar nár Cailleadh Mé - Micheál Ó Conghaile (Cló lar-Chonnacht)
• Rúnaí an Aire - Brian Ó Tiomáin (Cló lar-Chonnacht)
• Eoghan Béal - Darach Ó Scolaí, ealaín le Alé Mercado (Leabhar Breac)
• Sí - Seán Ó Muireagáin (Éabhlóid)
• An Cláirseoir - Diarmuid Johnson (Leabhar Breac)

New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with The Irish Independent

• Starfish Don’t Have Bodies – Fiona Ennis
• Burnt – Jacinta Cogan
• Carlos – Eamon O’Riordan
• A Day in the Life – Ben Dillon

New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with The Irish Independent

• ‘Abundance’ and ‘The Trouble with Home’ – Noel Howley
• ‘Mother / Father’ and ‘The Gift of Snow’ – John Kenny
• ‘Bring Up’ – Emma Beard
• ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘The North’ – Kevin Cahill

An Post Bookshop of the Year (in alphabetical order)

• Bridge Books, Dromore, Co. Down
• Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Galway
• O'Mahony's Booksellers, Limerick
• Tales for Tadpoles, Bray, Co. Wicklow
• The Book Centre, Waterford
• Woodbine Books, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare