Paul Murray scoops novel of the year at An Post Irish Book Awards ahead of fellow Booker hopeful Lynch

Paul Murray claimed the prize for best novel at the An Post Irish Book Awards on Wednesday night, in a major boost for the Dublin author’s Booker Prize hopes this weekend.

A green carpet was rolled out at the Convention Centre in Dublin to welcome the shortlisted nominees across all 19 categories, from best crime fiction book of the year to the greatest cookbook of 2023.

The Eason Novel of the Year was awarded to Murray for his fourth book The Bee Sting.

Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting. Photo by Lee Pelligrini

Murray is also in the running for this year’s Booker Prize, and was up against fellow Booker nominee Paul Lynch at the An Post Awards, with Lynch given a nod for his fifth novel Prophet Song.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Collecting his award, Mr Murray thanked those who worked on the book, his wife and his son.

“Most of all, I’d like to pay tribute to the astonishing writers on the shortlist,” he said.

Earlier Mr Murray told RTÉ News: “It’s been a crazy few months and I have to say it’s been a pretty atypical week for me.

“It’s fantastically exciting.”

While Booker nominee Paul Lynch said: “Its’ an honour to be here shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year and the Booker is also a sprinkling of fairy dust.

“It’s kind of magic,” he added.

The Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year award went to Liz Nugent for her bestseller Strange Sally Diamond, who said she was “blown away” as she collected her award.

While Roz Purcell took home the prize for the Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year, with her guide to the country’s greatest hiking spots, The Hike Life.

Accepting her award, Purcell said: “I feel like I might cry, this book took so long to make,” thanking her publisher and agent who worked with her over three years to put it together.

“It’s not very often I get emotional but it’s really such a prestigious award to win so I’m really so thankful.”

Eimear Ryan’s The Glass Ceiling was named the Eason Sports Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM while Claire Keegan – the author of the short story behind the Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin – was crowned the Library Association Author of the Year.

Dr Katriona O’Sullivan’s Poor received the Bookselling Ireland Biography of the Year and The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award.

“I feel a bit emotional as well, thank you so much for the award. When I was writing this memoir it was really hard,” she said, telling how it difficult not just as a story “full of trauma and triumph” but also for the “insecurity” of writing.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Professor Roy Foster, who said “I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven” as he collected the prize.

He thanked those who received the award ahead of him, adding he is “humbled” as it is a list of people whose work he “reveres”.

The Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year award, went to Kala, by Colin Walsh.

The Wicklow bookshop Halfway up the Stairs was given the title of An Post Bookshop of the Year.

Flavour, by Mark Moriarty, with photography by Cliodhna Prendergast, was named Cookbook of the Year.

Awards host Miriam O’Callaghan with Liz Nugent who won the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book Award, at the An Post Irish Book Awards. Photo: Mark Condren

RTÉ broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan, host of the awards, said she was “delighted” to see Professor Roy Foster collect the Lifetime Achievement Award and for Nugent to receive Crime Fiction award.

“She is a lovely person. I do this event every year, I really like it. They are such a lovely bunch of people but theres so many clever people in the room, it’s a bit intimidating,” she said.

“There is a room of geniuses. They are all super talented. It makes you realise how many talented writers there are in Ireland – not just because there are two up for the Booker this year.”

Awards chairperson Brendan Corbett described the event as a “highlight of the Irish literary calendar” as he congratulated the winners.

“Quality writing has never been more important than in turbulent times, whether fiction illuminating our inner lives, or non-fiction the world outside,” said the CEO of An Post, David McRedmond.

“This year An Post added a new award – ‘New Voices’ – for communities who have been marginalised or traumatised, to give voice to their experiences. This year the award was open to Ukrainian refugees. An Post’s sponsorship is more than financial: it is driven from the deepest passion for writing.”

The winner in the category was Valeriia Shmyrova for her book The Border / Кордон.

Peter Donnelly took home the award for Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year for The President’s Dog, a story about Michael D Higgins and his Burmese mountain dog Misneach.

The An Post Irish Book of the Year remains to be revealed, with the late Vicky Phelan, journalist Fintan O’Toole and author Louise O’Neill amongst previous winners.

A one-hour television special hosted by comedian Oliver Callan will be broadcast on RTÉ One on December 6, during which the winner of the overall award will be announced.

The winner of the £50,000 Booker Prize will be announced this coming Sunday at a ceremony in London, with Irish hopefuls Murray and Lynch on the shortlist, where they are up against Canadian writer Sarah Bernstein’s second novel Study for Obedience, Jamaican-American Jonathan Escoffery’s debut If I Survive You, British-Indian author Chetna Maroo’s debut novel Western Lane, and This Other Eden by US Pulitzer prize winner Paul Harding.

Full list of winners

Eason Novel of the Year

•The Bee Sting – Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

•Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2018 – 2023 – Edited by Sarah Binchy (New Island Books)

Bookselling Ireland Biography of the Year

•Poor – Katriona O’Sullivan (Sandycove)

Cookbook of the Year

•Flavour – Mark Moriarty, photography by Cliodhna Prendergast (Gill Books)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

•The Hike Life – Roz Purcell (Black and White Publishing)

Dubray Non-Fiction Book of the Year

•A Thread of Violence – Mark O’Connell (Granta Books)

Eason Sports Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM

•The Grass Ceiling – Eimear Ryan (Sandycove)

Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year

•Claire Keegan (Faber and Faber)

Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year

•Strange Sally Diamond – Liz Nugent (Sandycove)

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

•Kala – Colin Walsh (Atlantic Books)

National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the Year

•My Hot Friend – Sophie White (Hachette Books Ireland)

Foras na Gaeilge Irish Language Fiction Book of the Year Award

•Imram agus Scéalta Eile – Róise Ní Bhaoill (Éabhlóid)

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

•Poor – Katriona O’Sullivan (Sandycove)

New Voices: The An Post Writing Prize

•The Border / Кордон – Valeriia Shmyrova

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

•Black and Irish: Legends, Trailblazers and Everyday Heroes – Leon Diop and Briana Fitzsimons, illustrated by Jessica Louis (Little Island Books and Black and Irish)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior

•The President’s Dog – Peter Donnelly (Gill Books)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior

•I Am The Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere – Edited by Lucinda Jacob and Sarah Webb, illustrated by Ashwin Chacko (Little Island Books)

Writing.ie Short Story of the Year

•Such A Pretty Face – Moïra Fowley (Eyes Guts Throat Bones, Orion)

Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year

•Vectors in Kabul – Mary O’Donnell

An Post Bookshop of the Year

• Halfway up the Stairs – Greystones, Co. Wicklow

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