Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits wins Authors' Club Best First Novel Award
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Jeanine Cummins tells Niamh Donnelly about her new novel and surviving the controversy that surrounded her previous bestseller, American Dirt. Michael Crummey, the Canadian winner of the €100,000 Dublin Literary Award, talks to Niamh Donnelly. And there is a Q&A with Gethan Dick about her debut novel Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night.
Reviews are Seamus Martin on Unfinished Empire: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Near Abroad by Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Putin's Sledgehammer by Candace Rondeaux; Kevin Power on Don't Forget We're Here Forever by Lamorna Ash; Rónán Hession on the best new translated fiction; Pat Leahy on The Secret Life of Leinster House by Gavan Reilly; Richard Pine on The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism by Yanni Kotsonis; Oliver Farry on Vikings in the East: From Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin, the Origins of a Contested Legacy in Russia and Ukraine by Martyn Whittock; Michael Cronin on Ripeness by Sarah Moss; Tara Bergin on Infinity Pool by Vona Groarke; Adrienne Murphy on Girl with a Fork in a World of Soup by Rosita Sweetman; Brian Hanley on Swift Blaze of Fire, Olympian, Cleric, Brigadista: the Enigma of Robert Hilliard by Lin Rose Clark; and Kevin Gildea on The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies.
This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is Precipice by Robert Harris, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
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Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits has won The Authors' Club 2025 Best First Novel Award.
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This year's guest adjudicator, novelist Tracy Chevalier, presented the £2,500 award to the Dublin author at a reception at the National Liberal Club in London.
'Glorious Exploits is a remarkable leap of the imagination into 4th-century BC Sicily, where two young potters have the madcap idea of directing Athenian prisoners in a Euripides play,' she said. 'Ferdia Lennon somehow manages to convince us he was there, with a distinctly Irish voice and style of storytelling. It is a funny, heartbreaking, confident debut, and a glorious triumph.'
Chevalier selected the winner from a shortlist that also included: All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles; The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston; Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili; and Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen.
The prize is for the debut novel of a British, Irish or UK-based author, first published in the UK. There is no age limit. The winning novel is selected by a guest adjudicator from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors' Club members, chaired by Lucy Popescu, who said, 'An inventive, bittersweet novel about the power of the imagination. Lennon skilfully weaves the Irish vernacular into his tale; his imaginative characterisation and evocative descriptions are a joy.'
Lennon has previously won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for his debut novel.
05/11/2024 - NEWS - Writer Eilish Fisher. Photograph Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times
Début author Eilish Fisher and illustrator Dermot Flynn have picked up the KPMG Book of the Year today for their novel, Fia and the Last Snow Deer at the 35th
KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards.
The verse novel, which is set in pre-historic Ireland, tells the story of 13-year-old Fia and her beloved snow deer Solas, was also awarded the Éilís Dillon Prize celebrating Fisher's outstanding début children's book.
Announced by host Rick O'Shea at a ceremony held in Merrion Square, in partnership with International Literature Festival Dublin, a total of six awards were presented to Irish authors and illustrators, who will also receive a total prize-fund of €16,000. Winners of this year's awards are: The Honour Award for Illustration: Beanie the Bansheenie, written by former Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer and illustrated by Steve McCarthy; The Honour Award for Fiction – Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Junior Juries' Award - Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Judges' Special Award – The Dictionary Story by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. The Eilís Dillon Award was awarded to Eilish Fisher recognising an outstanding first children's book for 'Fia and the Last Snow Deer.
Paul Baggaley, Sheila Armstrong and Sinéad Mac Aodha
The European Union Prize for Literature jury has awarded Sheila Armstrong a Special Mention for her debut novel
Falling Animals.
This recognition includes €5,000, extensive opportunities to travel to promote the book at European book fairs and literary festivals and significant support for future translations. The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, is an annual initiative to recognise the best emerging fiction writers in Europe.
Armstrong's publisher, Paul Baggaley, Editor-in-Chief at Bloomsbury Books, and Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director of Literature Ireland (the literature organisation which nominated the book for the award), pitched
Falling Animals
in Prague to a seven-member literary expert jury. The award ceremony took place at the Prague book fair (Book World Prague) last Friday.
Mac Aodha said: 'Sheila's sensitive and lyrical, polyphonic novel is both an exploration of loss and loneliness and a celebration of the very necessary ties of community. The book is rooted in the wild northwestern Atlantic seaboard and its evocation of Sheila's homeplace is beautifully achieved.
'We are so grateful that this jury could appreciate both the cultural specificities of the work and its wider European literary resonances. We look forward to seeing Sheila Armstrong's work grow even further in confidence and ambition as a result of this recognition and the many translation opportunities it will afford her'.
Baggaley said: 'Publishing
Falling Animals
has been a real highlight of my publishing career, but this is still just the beginning in the recognition of Sheila's unique talent for addressing universal themes with her exquisite literary sensibility. I am convinced this prize will bring many international publishing partners and will help Sheila's writing reach readers worldwide, and it couldn't be more deserved.'
Thirteen countries were in contention this year with the outright winner, Italian writer Nicoletta Verna, receiving €10,000 as well as promotional and translation support for her book,
I giorni di Vetro
(Days of Glass), published by Einaudi. Belgian writer, Philippe Marczewski, also received a Special Mention for his novel,
Quand Cécile
(When Cécile), published by Éditions du Seuil.
Fintan Drury will be launching his new book, Catastrophe: Nakba II in Hodges Figgis, Dublin, next Thursday, May 29th, at 6pm, introduced by Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland; on June 4th, at 6.30pm, in Easons, Dún Laoghaire, in conversation with Dion Fanning; on June 5th, at 6.30pm, in Chapters Bookshop, Parnell St, Dublin; on June 12th, at 6.30pm, in O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick; and on June 13th, at 6pm, in Charlie Byrne's, Galway city.
Natascha McElhone and Lena Headey in a scene from the movie Mrs Dalloway circa 1997. Photograph: MichaelTo mark the centenary of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, the Irish Writers Centre will host a day of panel discussions and conversation on Saturday, June 7th. Curated by writer Belinda McKeon, the conference runs from 11am to 3pm at the Centre's home in 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
First published in 1925, Mrs Dalloway remains a landmark of modernist literature. The novel's depiction of a single day in the life of its characters continues to resonate a century later, and the Irish Writers Centre's event will explore Woolf's enduring influence on novelists, poets, essayists and readers today.
Participants will hear from a stellar line-up of speakers, including Mary Cregan, Naoise Dolan, Emilie Pine, Belinda McKeon, Nuala O'Connor and Claire-Louise Bennett. Discussions will explore themes of memory, urban life, writing the self, and the shifting boundaries of literary expression.
Price: €50 / €45 (members or concession). Tickets available at
irishwriterscentre.ie
Bloomsday in Tehran
Skein Press is publishing a book this autumn by Iranian-Irish visual artist Roxana Manouchehri, This is not a cookbook is a memoir of growing up in Tehran following the Iranian revolution and the significance of the food and recipes shared by the women who raised her.
Manouchehri is organising a week-long series of events to take place in Tehran over Bloomsday this year, with help from the Irish embassy in Tehran and Dayhim Art Society.
On June 16th and 17th, there will be a private view in the Irish embassy in Tehran and from June 20th to 27th in Rishcee Gallery. There will be an art exhibition around Ulysses, a documentary film, conversation with Joyce translators in Tehran and more.
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Local booksellers are sharing some of their top book recommendations for Summer 2025.
Maria Dickenson, Chair of Bookselling Ireland, recommends The Names by Florence Knapp and A Family Matter by Claire Lynch. Helene Heaney, Elk Books (opening in August 2025), Warrenpoint, Co Down recommends Charlotte: A Novel by Martina Devlin. Cian Byrne, The Maynooth Bookshop, Co. Kildare, recommends Let me go mad my own way by Elaine Feeney. Tomás Kenny, Kennys Bookshop, Galway, recommends Ingrained by Callum Robinson. John Breen, of Waterstones, Cork, recommends Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. Dawn Behan, Woodbine Books, Kildare, recommends Fun & Games by John Patrick McHugh and La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel. Lynda Laffan, Head of Books, Eason, recommends Air by John Boyne and It Should have been You by Andrea Mara. Trish Hennessy, Halfway Up the Stairs, Greystones, Co Wicklow, recommends Letters to a Monster by Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton; Arabella Pepper: The Wild Detective by ER Murray, illustrated by Monika Pollak; and After by Pádraig Kenny, illustrated by Steve McCarthy.
Maria Dickenson, chair of Bookselling Ireland, said, 'There are so many exciting new Irish books arriving in bookshops throughout the country over the coming weeks that will make an ideal summer read. Whether you are reading in an exotic location or enjoying some 'me time' in your back garden, there is something to suit everyone and your local bookseller is on hand to help find your perfect summer 2025 read.'
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The Society of Authors (SoA) has announced shortlists for the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, the Betty Trask Prize, the Queen's Knickers Award, the McKitterick Prize, the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, and the books celebrated by the ADCI Literary Prize.
The winners will be announced on June 18th at Southwark Cathedral and will share a prize fund of over £170,000.
Shortlisted for the ADCI Literary Prize are Victoria Hawthorne for The Darkest Night; Helen Heckety for Alter Ego; Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now.
Shorltisted for the ALCS Tom Gallon Trust Award for a short story by a writer who has had at least one short story accepted for publication are: Molly Aitken; Naomi Alderman; Daisy Fletcher; Hamish Gray; Katie Hale; and Somto Ihezue.
The Betty Trask Prize is presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Shortlisted are: Bonnie Burke-Patel for I Died at Fallow Hall; Madeline Docherty for Gender Theory; Genevieve Jagger for Fragile Animals; Ashani Lewis for Winter Animals; Elizabeth O'Connor for Whale Fall; Nicolas Padamsee for England is Mine.
The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize is awarded to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries, for a novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home. Shorltisted are: Matt Haig for The Life Impossible; Jo Hamya for The Hypocrite; Hisham Matar for My Friends; David Nicholls for You Are Here; Elif Shafak for There are Rivers in the Sky; and Ali Smith for Gliff.
The McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40. Shortlisted are Susie Dent for Guilty by Definition; Lauren Elkin for Scaffolding; Ewan Gass for Clinical Intimacy; Lara Haworth for Monumenta; Alan Murrin for The Coast Road; and Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now.
The Queen's Knickers Award is an annual prize for an outstanding children's original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It recognises books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement. Shortlisted are: Anne Booth and illustrator David Litchfield for The Boy, the Troll and the Chalk; Rachel Bright and illustrator Jim Field for The Pandas Who Promised; Catherine Cawthorne and illustrator Sara Ogilvie for Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales; Tiny Fisscher, translator Laura Watkinson and illustrator Herma Starreveld for Bird is Dead; Swapna Haddow and illustrator Yiting Lee for Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings; Mikolaj Pa, translator Scotia Gilroy and illustrator Gosia Herba for No. 5 Bubblegum Street.
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Sir, – Would I be alone in losing interest in Irish horse racing after the recent retirement of Rachael Blackmore? I would eagerly scan the runners and riders to see if 'herself' was on board and then making a mental note to see how she did in the results section the following day. As an retiree with no background in horseracing I avidly read the sports pages but they are a little less interesting now that she has gone. I suspect there are a few like me. – Yours, etc, IAIN KENNEDY, READ MORE Co Fermanagh.
