Winners of the An Post Irish Book Awards 2025 announced

The An Post Irish Book Award winners have been announced

Roisín O’Donnell won the Eason Novel of the Year Award for her book Nesting, while Elaine Feeney won the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award.

The An Post Irish Book Awards also presented former President Michael D. Higgins with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award. Higgins has published a significant body of literary works, including five poetry collections and several collections of speeches and essays on arts and politics.

The late Manchán Magan won TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year for Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun).

The remarkable Sarah Corbett Lynch won the Dubray Biography of the year for A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing.

Claire Gleeson took home the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year award for her novel Show Me Where It Hurts. You can read our full review of her unforgettable novel here.

Andrea Mara took home the The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year in association with The Irish Independent for It Should Have Been You.

You can check out the full list of winners below:

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

• Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) – Manchán Magan, illustrated by Megan Luddy (Gill Books)

Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year

• Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe – Jacqueline Connolly with Kathryn Rogers (Hachette Books Ireland)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

• Sophie’s Swaps – Sophie Morris (Gill Books)

Eason Sports Book of the Year

• Heart on My Sleeve – Andrew Porter (Eriu)

Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year

• Great Irish Wives – Nicola Pierce (The O’Brien Press)

Dubray Biography of the Year

• A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing – Sarah Corbett Lynch (Hachette Books Ireland)

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

• The Ghosts of Rome – Joseph O’Connor (Harvill, Penguin)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year - Junior

• Run Home, Little Fox – Tom McCaughren and Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin (The O’Brien Press)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior

• Animalopedia – Kathi and John Burke (Gill Books)

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

• Solo – Gráinne O’Brien (Little Island Books)

Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana

• Bódléar – Darach Ó Scolaí (Leabhar Breac)

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

• All the Birch Trees Were Waving – Pádhraic Quinn

New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with the Irish Independent

• ‘There’s never a crowd at the poetry section’ – Vincent Barton

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

• Show Me Where It Hurts – Claire Gleeson (Sceptre, Hachette)

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

• Paper Heart – Cecelia Ahern (Harper Fiction, HaperCollins)

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

• It Should Have Been You – Andrea Mara (Bantam, Transworld)

Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year

• Elaine Feeney

Eason Novel of the Year

• Nesting – Roisín O’Donnell (Scribner Bools from Simon & Schuster)

An Post Bookshop of the Year

• Chapters Bookstore, Dublin 1