Books newsletter: awards for Emilie Pine and Amy Devereux and a shortlisting for Michelle Gallen

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Karl Geary talks to Niamh Donnelly about his second novel, Juno Loves Legs; free diver Claire Walsh talks to Deirdre Falvey about her new book, Under Water; and there is a Q&A with crime writer Jane Casey.

Reviews are Denis Staunton on China & Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord by Philip Snow and The New Cold War: The United States, Russia & China, From Kosovo to Ukraine by Gilbert Achcar; Dermot Bolger on Soccer and Society in Dublin: A History of Association Football in Ireland’s Capital; Seán Hewitt on the best new poetry; John Self on Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry; Geoffrey Roberts on Kennan: A Life between Worlds by Frank Costigliola; Stephen Desmond on On The Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel; Patrick Freyne on Why We Sing by Julia Hollander; Seán Duke on The Irresistible Attraction of Gravity: A Journey to Discover Black Holes by Luciano Rezzolla; Houman Barekat on Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery; and Sarah Gilmartin on Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

Breaking Point by Edel Coffey is this weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer. You can buy this No 1 bestseller, enthusiastically reviewed here by Jane Casey, for €4.99, a €5 saving, when you buy a copy of The Irish Times in any branch.

Amy Devereux, the children’s books manager at the Book Centre in Wexford town, has been named this year’s winner of The O’Brien Press Bookseller of the Year Award. The announcement was made by the press’s managing director Ivan O’Brien on Monday evening at the annual Irish Book Trade conference and dinner, held by Bookselling Ireland & Publishing Ireland, at the Clayton Hotel in Cork city.

Amy is the 29th recipient of the award, which is presented annually in recognition of outstanding achievement or an invaluable contribution to the book trade by an individual bookseller. Winners are presented with The Elements, a bronze perpetual trophy created by one of Ireland’s leading sculptors, Rowan Gillespie, and a framed commemorative certificate.

Starting out as a part-time employee in The Book Centre, Wexford over a decade ago, Amy was promoted to children’s books manager in Wexford, and is also children’s buyer for The Book Centre chain. With a book blog, one-to-one recommendations for young readers, and real expertise in running effective events and promoting local authors, she extends what it means to be a bookseller. Her online readings during the pandemic retained the vital link between the shop and the local community. Amy is the definition of a bookworm, reading everything she gets her hands on, and happily selling and recommending books to customers and everyone she meets.

Ivan O’Brien said: “A real shop-floor retailer who cares about books and her customers, Amy is a worthy winner of The O’Brien Press Bookseller of the Year. The young readers of Wexford, but also those who enjoy her children’s book selections in all The Book Centre shops, are lucky to have such a passionate, knowledgeable and friendly face pointing them to books that she knows that they will love. Your local bookshop is an essential part of any community, and people like Amy are the reason.”

Emilie Pine has won the eighth annual €2,000 Kate O’Brien Award for her novel Ruth & Pen at this year’s Limerick Literary Festival. “Her deeply moving, poignant, intelligent and perceptive novel succeeds in making us think differently about important and serious themes including infertility and autism,” the festival said. The judges for this year’s award were committee member Marie Hackett, writer and critic Niall MacMonagle, poet and committee member Vivienne McKechnie, writer and children’s book buyer for O’Mahony’s Bookshop Grainne O’Brien and novelist Donal Ryan. The other shortlisted authors were Olivia Fitzsimons for The Quiet Whispers Never Stop and Sheila Armstrong for How to Gut a Fish.

Michelle Gallen has been shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print award for the second time. Gallen’s second novel, Factory Girls, published last year by John Murray, is one of eight books shortlisted for the £3,000 prize from the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society. The runner-up will receive £1,000. Her debut, Big Girl, Small Town, was shortlisted in 2020.

Also shortlisted this year are: Love Marriage by Monica Ali;The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam; Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus; Impossible by Sarah Lotz; The Lock In by Phoebe Luckhurst ; Wahala by Nikki May; and The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson.

The judges are Arabella Weir, Susie Blake, Anita Dobson and Angie Greaves. Greaves said: “The panel had the most difficult task of creating a shortlist. After much debate, I feel that we’ve created a list that reflects creative writing at its best and also represents comedy at its best. Books that make you laugh whilst you’re reading and enable you to paint pictures in your mind are priceless.”

The prize was launched by actor, author and stand-up comedian Helen Lederer in 2019 as a literary platform to increase exposure for diverse female witty voices in comedy fiction and as a way of celebrating fresh and established talent. She said: “Selecting eight was very painful to watch. All 16 titles provided wit and joy in so many different ways. But after much debate, they had to be whittled down to eight. We have a crop of debut novels, including one that has already gone to TV, as well as new pleasures from established witty authors. CWIP is a platform for witty literature as much as a competition. We may have laughed less in the last two years because of Covid but only a few years before that we were mostly laughing at men’s funny books because they were championed more. CWIP has changed that.”

Dublin Unesco City of Literature has announced the programme of events for this year’s One Dublin One Book, The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes. This annual Dublin City Council initiative aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during April.

Events will include: the author in conversation with Niall MacMonagle to discuss his journey from archivist to writer of historical fiction, and to explore the themes, settings, and characters in his novels; The Anatomy of Crime discussion with author Andrew Hughes and State Pathologists Dr Heidi Okkers and Deputy State Pathologist Dr Jill Roman; James Scannell from the Old Dublin Society on the police intelligence reports from various newspapers around the 1800s; meteorologist Joanna Donnelly on freak weather events in Irish history; and Andrew Hughes, Nicola Cassidy and Sinéad Crowley on writing vivid and authentic female protagonists. Download a PDF of the full programme here

Hughes said: “I’m so thrilled that The Coroner’s Daughter has been chosen for this year’s One Dublin One Book. The city has always been a huge source of inspiration, providing me with a setting and a cast of characters, and I love uncovering stories hidden in Dublin’s old houses. Although I’m from Wexford, I went to college in the city and have lived in Drumcondra for more than 20 years. My extended family are Dubliners, so it’s a huge source of pride to have my book celebrated in this way. I sincerely hope readers enjoy following Abigail and her forensic investigations. I can’t wait for the events to begin in April.”

Dublin City librarian Mairead Owens said: “The Coroner’s Daughter is a story rooted in Dublin city of the early 19th century with fascinating themes such as forensic science, religion, and the role of women in Ireland at the time. It is also an entertaining detective story, which I’m sure will engage the readers of Dublin and beyond. I’m looking forward to the discussions that will take place among readers this April.”

onedublinonebook.ie/whats-on

The shortlist for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2023 has been announced by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre. This is the fifth year of the prize, awarded annually for an outstanding debut collection of poetry in the English language.

Valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation, and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin. The patron is Stephen Vernon, who named the foundation in memory of his grandfather, John Pollard. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity on May 3rd.

The shortlisted publications are James Conor Patterson’s bandit country; Mark Pajak’s Slide; Padraig Regan’s Some Integrity; Warsan Shire’s Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head; Jo Clement’s Outlandish; and Victoria Adukwei Bulley’s Quiet.

Announcing the 2023 shortlist, chair of the judging panel, Prof Eoin McNamee, Director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre said: “If the condition of poetry and its standing in the world is to be judged by the 62 entries to the John Pollard prize then we’re in a good place. Every book had something to make the reader stop and stare, the range and diversity of the work astounded. It was a privilege for myself and fellow judges Phillip Coleman, Vona Groarke and Alice Lyons to read and debate this work.”

Previous winners of the prize were Hannah Sullivan (2019); Isabel Galleymore (2020); Diane Louie (2021); and Gail McConnell (2022).