By Sarah Canty
BANDON native Graham Norton, Beara resident Eoghan Daltun, Geraldine McCarthy from Rosscarbery, Bandon’s Leona Forde and Sarah Webb, a regular visitor to West Cork, are among the names on the 19th annual An Post Irish Book Awards shortlist.
The shortlist for the 2024 awards features new and established writers across 20 categories. Graham Norton’s book Frankie published by Coronet is shortlisted in the Ireland AM popular fiction category.
Eoghan Daltun’s book The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey published by Hachette Books Ireland is shortlisted in the WHSmith Non-Fiction Book category.
Geansaithe Móra by Geraldine McCarthy is published by LeabhairCOMHAR and shortlisted in the Irish language fiction category.
Sarah Webb’s book The Weather Girls published by The O’Brien Press is shortlisted in the category Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (senior) as is Bandon-based teacher Leona Forde’s book Milly McCarthy and the Sports Day Shambles with illustrator Karen Harte, published by Gill Books.
Another book, The Enchanted Bay: Tales and Legends from Ernie O’Malley’s Irish Folklore Collection
by Cormac KH O'Malley & Patrick J Mahoney, is shortlisted in the Best Irish-published Book of the Year category.
While author Patrick Mahoney was born in the US, his family hails from outside Goleen and he is a regular visitor to the area over the years.
Furthermore, Ardfield native and Bandon-based writer Dónal O'Sullivan has a short story – Estepona – shortlisted in the New Irish Writing Best Short Story Category of the awards.
Category winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in the Convention Centre in Dublin on Wednesday November 27th. The overall An Post Irish book of the Year winner will be broadcast on RTÉ ONE on Thursday December 19th during a one-hour special, hosted by Oliver Callan.
The public are now being asked to have their say and cast their votes for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website anpostirishbookawards.ie/vote.
All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Tokens vouchers and can cast their votes until voting closes at 5pm on November 14th.
