A LIMERICK-based writer has scooped the top prize in the An Post Irish Book Awards.
Castletroy-based Donal Ryan’s Heart, Be at Peace took the accolade for Book of the Year at the prestigious annual awards.
The book had previously scooped the Eason Novel of the Year Award, earning high acclaim from critics and literature fans alike, before being named the best book of 2024 at the An Post Irish Book Awards on December 19.
Heart, Be at Peace is the seventh novel by the author, who also lectures in creative writing at the University of Limerick.
His debut novel, The Spinning Heart, also took home the An Post Book of the Year prize in 2012. His 2020 novel Strange Flowers also won the Book of the Year title in 2020. He has twice been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize award, in 2013 for The Spinning Heart and again in 2018 for From a Low and Quiet Sea.
Mr Ryan’s latest novel was unanimously awarded the top prize this year, with the judging panel saying that Mr Ryan’s “writing has earned him a place among the greatest names in Irish literature”.
The judging panel of judges Maria Dickenson, general manager of Dubray, Madeleine Keane, literary editor of the Sunday Independent, Elaina Ryan, chief executive of Children’s Books Ireland, critic Alex Clark, and Cyril McGrane of An Post, said that Donal Ryan’s “lyrical novel speaks to the very heart of modern Irish society”.
“Weaving 21 voices together, Ryan portrays the passions, frailties and sorrows of one Irish town with compassion and clarity. Heart, Be at Peace is a masterful achievement and we congratulate Donal warmly on winning this award,” the judging panel added.
Mr Ryan told the Irish Independent that to win the award was “an incredible honour”.
“It is an incredible honour to win Irish Book of the Year. Heart, be at Peace is a book that means a lot to me and of which I’m very proud. But I’d have been happy for any of the brilliant and beautiful books on this shortlist to take this prize,” he said.
Originally from Nenagh, Tipperary, Mr Ryan and lives in Castletroy with his wife and two children.
