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LOOKING FOR A book recommendation?
Because the best books in Ireland for this year have just been announced, and could be a good place to start.
At a ceremony in Dublin tonight, the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2016 recognised authors’ works which covered a range of subjects and styles.
Renowned poet John Montague was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award and bestselling author Jilly Cooper was the recipient of the Bord Gáis Energy International Recognition Award – a special award made to international authors who have contributed substantially to the health and wealth of the Irish book-trade.
Now in its 11th year, the star-studded awards ceremony took place in Dublin’s Double Tree Hilton and was attended by Ireland’s top writers, publishers, booksellers and media personalities including writers Sebastian Barry, Maggie O’ Farrell, Donal Ryan, Marita Conlon McKenna, Roddy Doyle, Cecelia Ahern, Michael Harding, and John Bowman.
And the winners are…
The Eason Book Club Novel of the Year
Solar Bones – Mike McCormack (Tramp Press)
The Journal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year
The Glass Shore – edited by Sinéad Gleeson (New Island Books)
The Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
Red Dirt – E.M. Reapy (Head of Zeus)
The National Book Tokens Non-Fiction Book of the Year
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy – Paul Howard (Picador)
RTÉ Radio One’s The Ryan Tubridy Show Listener’s Choice Award
Lying In Wait – Liz Nugent (Penguin Ireland)
The Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Junior)
Pigín of Howth – Kathleen Watkins, illustrated by Margaret Anne Suggs (Gill Books)
The Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior)
Knights of the Borrowed Dark – Dave Rudden (Puffin)
The Avonmore Cookbook of the Year
The World of The Happy Pear – Stephen and David Flynn (Penguin Ireland)
The Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Holding – Graham Norton (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Making It Up As I Go Along – Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph)
The Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year
The Battle – Paul O’Connell (Penguin Ireland)
The Books Are My Bag Crime Fiction Book of the Year
The Trespasser – Tana French (Hachette Ireland)
The Writing.ie Short Story of the Year Award
The Visit – Orla McAlinden (Sowilo Press)
The Listowel Writers’ Week Irish Poem of the Year
In Glasnevin – Jane Clarke (From: The Irish Times)
Commenting on this year’s winners, Larry MacHale, Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards Chairperson, said:
“The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards was founded to celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible.”
Each year it brings together a huge community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise and celebrate the very best Irish writing talent.”
For further information, visit the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards website here.
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Isn’t a well known public figure who abused for years getting their sentence reduced down to 2 years for “good character and behaviour” (insert Judge feel good lingo here)
It needs to be said, we do not punish abusers in Ireland, there is no deterrence. It needs to change.
Also a conversation on consent needs to be amped up further in schools. Things need to change.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: well said. Rape should mean a life sentence.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: I agree , well said. Respect and consent , and relationships in general should be discussed in schools
@James Wormold: Chemical castration would be a more economic and effective option.
@Carla Killeen: raping women would be anathema to the vast majority of men with a high sex drive. Rape is about much more than male hormones and sex, it’s about control and violating another person. Chemical castration might reduce recidivism rates but there is no evidence to suggest it acts as a deterrent in the first place. Teaching children about respect, body autonomy and consent from a young age might prevent some from ever thinking it’s okay to violate another person.
You won’t see Leo tackling this problem, you won’t see any kind of judicial reform regards to sentences. I am convinced the judges always try to side with the perpetrator, if you have a good character, if you plead guilty, if you have a job. Anything at all that can be used to reduce a sentence the judge will try his best, oh he was cooperative, that’s another few months off. Then of course in the case of a rape, the judge doesn’t sentence for each crime committed within the rape, the violence, the threats etc it is all bundled into one and the mandatory suspension part of the sentence.
And yet in the other news report today we have people insisting abortion services are a “lifestyle choice” and not required in Ireland.
The perpetrators get full benefit of certain circumstances while the victim gets violated over and over .. Throw away the keys .
In a society where the media and entertainment industry place heavy emphasis on sexual consumption and instant gratification as elements of the Good Life, it is not surprising that predatory men see women and girls as objects of their desires.
@Garreth Byrne: so rape didn’t exist before TV?
@EillieEs: Rape is as old as the hills. The sex saturation of the media and mass entertainment tends to emphasise eros rather than conjugal love as a key element of the Good Life. Women’s bodies are graphically projected more than their minds and personal qualities. As sex objects they are targeted for male gratification.
If you use a gun as a weapon it’s taken from you…….chemical castration
@John O Reilly: Agreed, it would be the best deterrent.
@John O Reilly: how to stop that person ever using it as a weapon in the first place?
@EillieEs: nothing….some people are animals
How can you be a good person if you rape someone should get life imprisonment
@Margaret Kane: This question needs to be asked, this is a really good question that should be put to judges.
If 34.3% of the enquiries to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are from other parts of the country is this a funding issue?
It’s not really a great place at all, especially if the privileged have hurt you. Pigs and sheep, people, pigs and sheep.
have your say