Shortlist announced for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2026

The shortlist for the 2026 An Post Irish Book Awards has been announced, featuring writers and illustrators across 19 categories as the awards mark their 21st anniversary.

Shortlisted authors include Maggie O'Farrell, Louise Kennedy, Djamel White, Donal Ryan, Sebastian Barry, John Boyne, Colm Tóibín, Liz Nugent, Nikita Hand, Sally Hayden, Vincent Browne, Ciara Mageean, James McClean, Katriona O’Sullivan, Paul Howard and Darach Ó Scolaí.

The categories span fiction, history, biography, non-fiction, lifestyle, sport, crime fiction, children’s books, teen and young adult literature, Irish-language fiction, poetry and short stories.

The awards recognise books and their creators across established and emerging areas of Irish writing, with the overall Book of the Year selected from six finalists.

This year's shortlist includes Maggie O'Farrell’s Land and Louise Kennedy’s Stations in both the Eason Novel of the Year and Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award categories.

Djamel White’s All Them Dogs appears in the Novel of the Year and Newcomer of the Year categories, with Sally Hayden and Doireann Ní Ghríofa are both shortlisted for Non-Fiction Book of the Year and Author/Illustrator of the Year - Hayden for This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World, and Ní Ghríofa for Said the Dead.

The biography and sports categories include several autobiographical works, including Talk to Joe: Life, Liveline and Me by Joe Duffy, Home Economics: A Memoir by Caitríona Lally and Not the Perfect Victim by Nikita Hand with Kathryn Rogers.

The sports shortlist features My Greatest Race by Ciara Mageean with Clíona Foley, All In by Peter O'Mahony with Dion Fanning, The Walls by James McClean with Daniel McDonnell, and Zeebs: My Autobiography by Simon Zebo with Gerry Thornley.

The biography category also includes John McGahern: A Writing Life by Frank Shovlin, No One Tells You: The Last Years of Edna O’Brien by Carlo Gébler and Charles Haughey: Glory, Greed and Guns by Vincent Browne.

The children's categories feature separate Junior and Senior shortlists, with eight titles in each category - the selections include picture books, illustrated fiction, adventure stories and books exploring Irish history.

The Junior shortlist includes Paddy Donnelly's The Upside-Down Lighthouse, Patricia Forde’s Letters to a Giant and Peter Donnelly’s I Am Not a Dog, while the Senior shortlist features Deerheart by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P.J. Lynch, and Millie McCarthy and the Doggy Daycare Drama by Leona Forde, illustrated by Karen Harte.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday, 1 December.

The overall An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2026 will be revealed during a one-hour television programme hosted by Oliver Callan, broadcast on RTÉ One on 10 December.

Public voting opens at 7pm on Thursday, 22 October, and closes at 6pm on Friday, 13 November. Voters can select their favourite books through the awards website and will be entered into a draw to win one of five €100 National Book Tokens.

The Best Short Story and Best Poetry categories continue their partnership with the Irish Independent’s New Irish Writing competition. All eight shortlisted writers across the two categories will receive support from the Irish Writers Centre through mentoring, courses and membership.

The An Post Irish Book Awards 2026 Shortlist, in full:

Eason Novel of the Year

Land – Maggie O'Farrell (Tinder Press)

Stations – Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury Circus)

All Them Dogs – Djamel White (John Murray)

Where Are the Kings – Donal Ryan (Doubleday)

Other People’s Lives – Kathleen MacMahon (Sandycove)

The Newer World – Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)

Few and Far Between – Jan Carson (Doubleday)

The Weight of Angels – John Boyne (Doubleday)

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

Seeing What’s Hidden – Manchán Magan (Gill Books)

The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census - Edited by Orlaith McBride and John Gibney (Irish Academic Press)

Irish Sport in 100 Objects – Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press)

An Asylum for My Affections – Sketches of Maeve Brennan – Edited by Molly Hennigan (New Island Books)

A Letter Home - Kerby A. Miller and Breandán Mac Suibhne (Gill Books)

Birdstyle – Gordon D’Arcy (Dingle Publishing)

Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year

The Plot Against Ireland – Myles Dungan (Apollo)

The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census - Edited by Orlaith McBride and John Gibney (Irish Academic Press)

A History of Ireland in 100 Stamps – Max Barrett (The O’Brien Press)

A Rebel and a Traitor – Rory Carroll (HarperNonFiction)

Catalpa – Michael B. Barry (Gill Books)

The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence – Louise Brangan (Vintage Publishing)

Dubray Biography of the Year

Home Economics: A Memoir – Caitríona Lally (New Island Books)

John McGahern: A Writing Life – Frank Shovlin (Faber & Faber)

No One Tells You: The Last Years of Edna O’Brien – Carlo Gébler (New Island Books)

Charles Haughey: Glory, Greed and Guns – Vincent Browne (Eriu)

Talk to Joe: Life, Liveline and Me – Joe Duffy (Hachette Books Ireland)

A Bigger Life – Louise O’Neill (HarperCollins)

Not the Perfect Victim – Nikita Hand with Kathryn Rogers (Hachette Books Ireland)

Seán Lemass: The Lost Memoir – Edited by Ronan McGreevy (Eriu)

Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Said the Dead – Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Faber and Faber)

The Most Normal Woman: Essays on Appearances – Roisín Kiberd (Tramp Press)

Opening Night – Sara Baume (Granta Books)

This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World – Sally Hayden (4th Estate)

A Sheepdog Named Oscar – Dara Waldron (Simon & Schuster)

A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991– 2026 – Martin Doyle (The Lilliput Press)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

Best of Ireland – Cassie Stokes (DK Books)

Sophie’s Swaps Homemade Wins – Sophie Morris (DK Books)

Finding Joy – Dearbhla Mescal (Eriu)

Happy, Thank You. More, Please: How I got grateful, stayed mortified, and learned to trust the universe – Kyla Cobbler (Hachette Books Ireland)

Eva Pau’s Asian Cookbook – Eva Pau (Murdoch Books)

Now You Are Wonderful: A Celebration of Age, Freedom and Wisdom – Mary Kennedy (Hachette Books Ireland)

Eason Sports Book of the Year

My Greatest Race – Ciara Mageean with Clíona Foley (Gill Books)

All In – Peter O’Mahony with Dion Fanning (Sandycove)

The Lost Sportswriter – Vincent Hogan (Gill Books)

Mackey and Ring – Arthur James O’Dea (Gill Books)

The Walls – James McClean with Daniel McDonnell (Sandycove)

Zeebs: My Autobiography – Simon Zebo with Gerry Thornley (Eriu)

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

Stations – Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury Circus)

Land – Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)

Experts in a Dying Field – Patrick Freyne (Sandycove)

Be Like the Sea – Marie Gleeson with Orlaith Carmody (Gill Books)

White Lines – Ryan Caldwell with Peter Lockhart (Hachette Books Ireland)

Brian Cowen: Anatomy of a Taoiseach – Gary Murphy (Eriu)

Hungry: A Biography of My Body – Katriona O’Sullivan (Hachette Books Ireland)

Imitation Games: How Gambling Hijacked Sport – Darragh McGee (Vintage Publishing)

Library Association of Ireland Author / Illustrator of the Year

Colm Tóibín – The News from Dublin (Picador)

Doireann Ní Ghríofa – Said the Dead (Faber and Faber)

Liz Nugent – The Truth About Ruby Cooper (Sandycove)

Paddy Donnelly The Upside-Down Lighthouse (The O’Brien Press)

P.J. Lynch – Deerheart (Walker)

Sally Hayden – This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World (4th Estate)

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

All Them Dogs – Djamel White (John Murray)

Esther is Now Following You – Tanya Sweeney (Bantam)

The Visit – Neil Tully (Eriu)

The Ballad of Ronan McCoy – Colin Morgan (HarperCollins)

Wild Iris – Ruth McKee (Dedalus Ireland)

Somewhere – Jessamine O’Connor (The Lilliput Press)

The Lies Between Us – Jen Bray (Sandycove)

Dirtpickers – Edie May Hand (Manilla)

The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year in association with The Irish Independent

The Truth About Ruby Cooper – Liz Nugent (Sandycove)

Everything She Didn’t Say – Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)

One of Us Is Guilty – Steve Cavanagh (Headline)

Such a Nice Girl – Andrea Mara (Bantam)

In Glass Houses – Edel Coffey (Sphere)

The Keeper – Tana French (Viking)

Never to be Found – Jo Spain (Zaffre)

If These Walls Could Talk – Michelle McDonagh (Hachette Books Ireland)

WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM

A Nation Once Again – Paul Howard (Sandycove)

The Expectation – A. O’Connor (Andrew O’Connor) (Poolbeg Press)

Love Scene – Anna Carey (Hachette Books Ireland)

Our Deadly Summer – Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen (Bloomsbury Publishing)

The Mini Breakers – Lucy Kennedy (Eriu)

Love Unlocked – Cecelia Ahern (HarperFiction)

A Plot to Die For – Ardal O’Hanlon (Simon & Schuster)

Anywhere But Here – Vicki Notaro (Sandycove)

Children’s Book of the Year - Junior

The Upside-Down Lighthouse – Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)

Letters to a Giant – Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

I Am Not a Dog – Peter Donnelly (Gill Books)

Swim, Little Otter – Tom McCaughren and Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin (The O’Brien Press)

Rabbit and Bear: The Bog of Frogs – Julian Gough, illustrated by Jim Field (Orchard Books)

The Starmaker – Catherine Doyle, illustrated by Paddy Donnelly (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

Little Passenger – Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Jessica Love (Walker Books)

An Peata is Fearr – Patricia Forde, illustrated by Philip Cullen (Futa Fata)

Children’s Book of the Year – Senior

Deerheart – Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P.J. Lynch (Walker)

Millie McCarthy and the Doggy Daycare Drama – Leona Forde, illustrated by Karen Harte (Gill Books)

Minotaur Boy - Shane Hegarty, illustrated by Ruby Fresson (DK Books)

Murder at the Ivy Hotel – Emily Hourican (Scholastic)

Nina Peanut: Major Drama Alert (Book 4) – Sarah Bowie (Scholastic)

A Timeline of Irish History – Myles Dungan, illustrated by Sol Linero (Gill Books)

Death Before Detention – Alison Weatherby, illustrated by Ellen Porteus (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Epic Ireland – Kieran Fanning, illustrated by Alice Guidi (Gill Books)

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

Effie is Offline – Karen Harte (Gill Books)

Shorelines – Ruth Ennis (Little Island Books)

Runaway Road – Sue Divin (First Ink)

Her Hidden Fire – Clíodhna O’Sullivan (Penguin)

They Called Us Witch – Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Imogen Oh and Anastasia Stefurak (Harper Fire)

From the Top, Sally Flynn – Méabh Collins (The O’Brien Press)

Just Another Dead Boy – Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)

Tom Burne Has Left the Chat – Seán Farrelly (Faber Children’s)

Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana

Faraor Géar nár Cailleadh Mé - Micheál Ó Conghaile (Cló lar-Chonnacht)

Rúnaí an Aire - Brian Ó Tiomáin (Cló lar-Chonnacht)

Eoghan Béal - Darach Ó Scolaí, ealaín le Alé Mercado (Leabhar Breac)

Sí - Seán Ó Muireagáin (Éabhlóid)

An Cláirseoir - Diarmuid Johnson (Leabhar Breac)

New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with The Irish Independent

Starfish Don’t Have Bodies – Fiona Ennis

Burnt – Jacinta Cogan

Carlos – Eamon O’Riordan

A Day in the Life – Ben Dillon

New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with The Irish Independent

'Abundance’ and ‘The Trouble with Home’ – Noel Howley

‘Mother / Father’ and ‘The Gift of Snow’ – John Kenny

‘Bring Up’ – Emma Beard

‘Rhiannon’ and ‘The North’ – Kevin Cahill

An Post Bookshop of the Year (in alphabetical order)

Bridge Books, Dromore, Co. Down

Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Galway

O'Mahony's Booksellers, Limerick

Tales for Tadpoles, Bray, Co. Wicklow

The Book Centre, Waterford

Woodbine Books, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare

Find out more about the Irish Book Awards here