Bono, Graham Norton and Kellie Harrington are among the star names to be shortlisted for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards at the GPO in Dublin on Thursday evening, where the contenders in 18 prize categories were announced.

The North’s history of conflict and division provides the backdrop for three of the six novels shortlisted. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy; The Colony by Audrey Magee (longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize); and The Raptures by Jan Carson are joined on the shortlist by previous winner Donal Ryan for The Queen of Dirt Island; Maggie O’Farrell for The Marriage Portrait; and Sara Baume for Seven Steeples. Kennedy won the John McGahern Prize last month for her debut story collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac.

Awards chairman Brendan Corbett said: “This year’s shortlist, once again, displays the talent of Irish writers and exemplifies the diversity of Ireland’s literary culture. Each category is steeped with exceptional writing and truly deserving writers and authors, as well as publishers and booksellers.”

Paul Howard is up for two awards again. He is in the running for Sports Book of the Year for The Rodfather, the autobiography of his co-writer, Roddy Collins, and in the Popular Fiction category for Once Upon a Time in Donnybrook, writing as Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. He faces tough competition in each field, however. Kellie by Olympic boxing gold medallist Kellie Harrington, with Roddy Doyle, is probably the favourite, although The Game by Tadhg Coakley has been critically acclaimed and A History of the GAA in 100 Objects by Siobhán Doyle has broad appeal. Forever Home by Graham Norton and Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes are probably the ones to beat in Popular Fiction, but What Eden Did Next by Sheila O’Flanagan and Idol by Louise O’Neill are also bestsellers.

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Louise O’Neill is also in the running for author of the year along with Catherine Ryan Howard (shortlisted too in the crime category for Run Time), Sally Rooney (despite not having a new book out this year), Sarah Webb, Roisín Meaney and John Boyne.

My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Sally Hayden has already won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Michel Déon Prize and been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. It has been shortlisted for both Newcomer of the Year and Non-fiction Book of the Year, where her rivals include Manchán Magan, Gillian Hussey, Rory Hearne, Elizabeth Boyle and Sean O’Driscoll.

Bono will be expected to win the biography award. However, it is one of the strongest shortlists, with highly acclaimed contenders such as The Last Good Funeral of the Year by Ed O’Loughlin, Without Warning and only Sometimes by Kit de Waal, Time and Tide by Charlie Bird, with Ray Burke, I Don’t Want to Talk About Home by Suad Aldarra and All Down Darkness Wide by Seán Hewitt.

Two Galway shops, Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway city and Books at One in Letterfrack, are in the running for Bookshop of the Year, along with Bridge Books from Dromore, Co Down, Tertulia in Westport, Co Mayo, Bridge Street Books in Wicklow town and Philip’s Bookshop in Mallow, Co Cork.

Catherine Doyle is up for children’s (senior) and Teen and Young Adult awards for, respectively, The Lost Girl King and Twin Crowns, with Katherine Webber,

The public is now invited to vote online for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website from tomorrow at 9am until November 10th. As Covid-19 restrictions have been removed, a live in-person ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November 23rd in the Convention Centre, Dublin, hosted by RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan. A one-hour special, hosted by Oliver Callan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on December 7th, exploring the six books and authors competing for the Book of the Year accolade, culminating in the revealing of this year’s overall winner.

The An Post Irish Book Awards 2022 shortlists are:

Novel of the Year

• Trespasses – Louise Kennedy (Bloomsbury Circus)
• The Colony – Audrey Magee (Faber & Faber)
• Seven Steeples – Sara Baume (Tramp Press)
• The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)
• The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (Doubleday)
• The Raptures – Jan Carson (Doubleday)

Crime Fiction Book of the Year

• Remember my Name – Sam Blake (Corvus)
• Run Time – Catherine Ryan Howard (Corvus)
• Breaking Point – Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Accomplice – Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• The Interview – Gill Perdue (Sandycove)
• Hide and Seek – Andrea Mara (Transworld)

Sports Book of the Year

• The Game – Tadhg Coakley (Merrion Press)
• A History of the GAA in 100 Objects – Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press)
• Point to Point: The Heart of Irish Horse Racing – Healy Racing, with words by Richard Pugh and photographs by Pat ‘Cash’ Healy (The O’Brien Press)
• Life Begins in Leitrim – Zak Moradi, with Niall Kelly (Gill Books)
• The Rodfather – Roddy Collins, with Paul Howard (Sandycove)
• Kellie – Kellie Harrington, with Roddy Doyle (Sandycove)

Newcomer of the Year

• None of This is Serious – Catherine Prasifka (Canongate Books)
• There’s Been a Little Incident – Alice Ryan (Head of Zeus)
• Speechless – Fiacre Ryan (Merrion Press)
• Breaking Point – Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• My Fourth Time, We Drowned – Sally Hayden (Fourth Estate)
• The Amusements – Aingeala Flannery (Sandycove)

Non-fiction Book of the Year

• Listen to the Land Speak – Manchán Magan (Gill Books)
• Lessons from the Bench – Judge Gillian Hussey, with Rachel Pierce (Gill Books)
• My Fourth Time, We Drowned – Sally Hayden (Fourth Estate)
• Gaffs – Rory Hearne (HarperCollins Ireland)
• Fierce Appetites – Elizabeth Boyle (Sandycove)
• Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber – Sean O’Driscoll (Sandycove)

Biography of the Year

• The Last Good Funeral of the Year – Ed O’Loughlin (Riverrun)
• Without Warning and only Sometimes – Kit de Waal (Tinder Press)
• Time and Tide – Charlie Bird, with Ray Burke (HarperCollins Ireland)
• I Don’t Want to Talk About Home – Suad Aldarra (Doubleday)
• Surrender – Bono (Hutchinson Heinemann)
• All Down Darkness Wide – Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape)

Cookbook of the Year

• Bake – Graham Herterich (Nine Bean Rows Books)
• Lili’s Family Favourites – Lili Forberg (The O’Brien Press)
• The Daly Dish: Bold Food Made Good – Gina Daly, Karol Daly (Gill Books)
• The GIY Diaries: A Year of Growing and Cooking – Michael Kelly (Gill Books)
• Sweet Therapy: The Joy of Baking – Una Leonard (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Lush – Daniel Lambert (HarperCollins Ireland)

Popular Fiction Book of the Year

• Forever Home – Graham Norton (Coronet)
• What Eden Did Next – Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline Review)
• Duffy and Son – Damien Owens (HarperCollins Ireland)
• Again, Rachel – Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph)
• Once Upon a Time in Donnybrook - Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (Sandycove)
• Idol – Louise O’Neill (Transworld)

Lifestyle Book of the Year

• The Homemade Year – Lilly Higgins (Gill Books)
• An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding – Eoghan Daltun (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Still Points: A Guide to Living the Mindful, Meditative Way – Brother Richard (Hachette Books Ireland)
• The Female Factor – Dr Hazel Wallace (Yellow Kite)
• What Every Woman Needs to Know About Her Gut – Barbara Ryan, Elaine McGowan (John Murray Press)
• Climate Worrier – Colm O’Regan (HarperCollins Ireland)

Best Irish Published Book of the Year

• The Book of the Skelligs – John Crowley and John Sheehan (Cork University Press)
• Abandoned Ireland – Rebecca Brownlie (Merrion Press)
• The Guardians - 100 Years of An Garda Síochána 1922-2022 – Garda Stephen Moore (The O’Brien Press)
• The Irish Civil War in Colour – Michael B Barry, John O’Byrne (Gill Books)
• The Great Lighthouses of Ireland – David Hare (Gill Books)
• An Irish Folklore Treasury – John Creedon (Gill Books)

Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)

• Cloud Babies – Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Chris Judge (Walker Books)
• Well Done, Mommy Penguin – Chris Haughton (Walker Books)
• Fox and Son Tailers – Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)
• Our Big Day – Bob Johnston, illustrated by Michael Emberley (The O’Brien Press)
• Meanwhile Back on Earth – Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Sir Adam the Brave and the Moody Monsters – David King, illustrated by Rhiannon Archard (Sandycove)

Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)

• The Lost Girl King – Catherine Doyle (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Day I Got Trapped in my Brain – Amy Huberman, illustrated by Katie Kear (Scholastic)
• Frankie’s World – Aoife Dooley (Scholastic)
• The Truth About Riley – Sinéad Moriarty (Gill Books)
• The Great Irish History Book – Myles Dungan, illustrated by Alan Dunne (Gill Books)
• Girls Who Slay Monsters – Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shone Shirley MacDonald (HarperCollins Ireland)

Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year

• Truth be Told - Sue Divin (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• Rock, Paper, Killers – Alexia Mason (Simon and Schuster)
• The Gifts That Bind Us – Caroline O’Donoghue (Walker Books)
• The Asparagus Bunch – Jessica Scott-Whyte (Welbeck Flame)
• Let’s Talk – Richie Sadlier (Gill Books)
• Twin Crowns – Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle (Farshore – Electric Monkey, Harper Collins)

Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year

• Unmaking His Chair – Jim McElroy (From: We Are the Weather, published by Smith/ Doorstop
• Wedding Dress – Martina Dalton (From: New Irish Writing, Irish Independent)
• What Man Doesn’t – Paul McMahon (From: The Poetry Society – VII, No. 4, Winter 2021)
• Amelia’s Model – Michael Longley (From: The Slain Birds – Jonathan Cape)

Short Story of the Year

• Sleep Watchers – Roisín O’Donnell (From: The Stinging Fly Press)
• Red Market – Sheila Armstong (From: How to Gut a Fish – Bloomsbury)
• This Small Giddy Life – Nuala O’Connor (From: A Little Unsteadily into Light – New Island)
• The Chekhovians – Rebecca Miller (From: Total – Canongate Books)
• Mathematics – Wendy Erskine (From: Dance Move – The Stinging Fly Press)
• Miles of Bad Road - Neil Tully (From: The Waxed Lemon Literary Journal)

Irish Language Book of the Year

• EL - Thaddeus Ó Buachalla (Coiscéim)
• An Dara Roghna – Celia de Fréine (LeabhairCOMHAR)
• Bádh B’fhéidir – Seán Ó Muireagáin (Éabhlóid)
• Súil an Dáill – Darach Ó Scolaí (Leabhar Breac)
• Bláth na dTulach – Stories form 28 Authors (Éabhlóid)

Author of the Year

• Catherine Ryan Howard
• Sally Rooney
• Sarah Webb
• Roisín Meaney
• Louise O’Neill
• John Boyne

Bookshop of the Year

• Bridge Books – Dromore, Down
• Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop – Galway
• Tertulia – Westport, Mayo
• Bridge Street Books – Wicklow
• Philip’s Bookshop – Mallow, Cork
• Books at One - Letterfrack, Galway