← Back Published on

The Irish Book Awards 2022

The Irish book awards celebrates the best of contemporary Irish writing - ‘exclusively Irish, inclusive in every other sense’ - across a multitude of varied categories, bringing together a vast literary community, from readers, to authors, to bookshops. The Irish public are devotedly committed to this award, voting for their favourite authors every year, from the likes of Sally Rooney to Seamus Heaney. Ireland homes an immensely rich literary history, very much alive in the places, names, and fabric of this remarkable island, and a wealth of new voices are consistently bursting onto the writing scene. As such, we’ve been taking note of Irish authors throughout the year, and are thrilled to see so many of them on this year’s Irish Book Awards shortlist.

This issue, we are spotlighting the Novel of the Year category and its overflowing array of literary talent. The shortlisted authors boast figures we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with and spotlighting this year, including Louise Kennedy, Maggie O’Farrell and Jan Carson. We were therefore elated to hear that Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses has been awarded the crowning prize of Novel of the Year!

Set in 1970s Northern Ireland, Tresspasses is a quietly heartbreaking and captivating love story. Louise chatted with us about contested identity and voice as someone navigating Irish political and religious lines, growing up during the Troubles. Her idea of a northern Irish voice is one tinged with “grim humour and anxiety, a kind of cheery nihilism [and] an unease in relationship with place.” It was a joyous interview with an intellectual heart; we urge you to go and read it.

Jan Carson’s shortlisted title, The Raptures, was our Book of the Month all the way back in January! The time seems ripe to cast our eye back to our featured letter from the editor:

“The Raptures is Jan’s third novel, and while it carries all her trademark warmth, wit, and blazing imagination, she is also doing something new, uncovering the myriad consequences of tragedy as they ripple through a small community. The conversations the novel provokes are many and fascinating, from the precarity of innocence and the fathomless mysteries of children’s minds and bodies, to the lies and corruption of a rural frontier and the legacy of profound religious faith.” - Alice Youell 

Maggie O’Farrell is both a national and an nb. literary treasure, as well as the feature of last quarter’s retrospective. The Marriage Portrait is O’Farrell’s signature storytelling at its best, illuminating Renaissance Italy and a resilient young woman’s struggle in the face of adversity. O’Farrell has a talent for casting shadowy corners of renaissance history into light; cast your eyes to Hamnet for some further reading.

It is always uniquely satisfying when our literary notetaking at nb. comes full circle and we see those authors we have followed reap the benefits of their astonishing talent. We can’t wait to see the landscape of Irish writing continue to grow and evolve over the coming years. 

We had the pleasure of widening our Irish circle to include Sara Baume, each of her novels idiosyncratic and structurally playful in their own way. We mused on nature and language in her latest novel, Seven Steeples, and what it means to live in solitude and loose yourself in a relationship.