Irish Book Awards

The 2008 Irish Book Awards were presented in a glittering ceremony at the Mansion House on April 24th. The awards were established in 2006 to acknowledge the wealth of talent in Irish literature. Comprising nine categories, the awards are open to all Irish authors who have had a book published during the last 12 months. Two categories, The Tubridy Show Listeners’ Choice Award and the Galaxy Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year, incorporated a public vote to select their winning titles. Diarmaid Ferriter was the toast of the evening, as his nominated book Judging Dev won the three categories in which the title was nominated – the non-fiction book of the year, the Irish published book of the year and the Tubridy Show Listeners' Choice award. Anne Enright followed last year's Man Booker win by securing the Irish Novel of the Year award for The Gathering. Take a Look at Me Now by Anita Notaro won the popular fiction category; Trevor Brennan's memoir Heart and Soul won in the sports book category; and Julia Kelly won the newcomer of the year award with her novel With My Lazy Eye. The lifetime achievement award went to William Trevor. In the children’s category, The Story of Ireland by Brendan O'Brien won the junior prize with Roddy Doyle’s Wilderness winning the senior prize.