THREE Irish authors are among a 16-name shortlist for the second annual Nero Book Awards.
Donal Ryan, Colin Barrett and Ferdia Lennon have all made the cut for 2024 and will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow Irish author Paul Murray, whose novel The Bee Sting was the inaugural Nero Book Awards Gold Prize winner in 2023.
Irish author Michael Magee was also successful last year, where he won the Debut Fiction category, with his book Close to Home.
Tipperary-born Ryan’s 2024 book Heart, Be at Peace, features in the Fiction Award shortlist for 2024, while Mayo man Barrett and Dubliner Lennon will compete in the Debut Fiction Award shortlist for their titles, Wild Houses and Glorious Exploits, respectively.
There are four categories in the awards – Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s – with four authors shortlisted per category.
Donal Ryan’s book Heart, Be at Peace has been shortlisted for the Nero Fiction Award 2024“There is extraordinary writing talent in the UK and Ireland and our judges have worked tirelessly to find 16 outstanding books based on the quality of their writing and their readability,” Gerry Ford, Founder and CEO of Caffè Nero, said as they released their shortlist today.
“We received an overwhelming number of entries this year, so I know it was no small feat to choose just 16 for the shortlists,” he added.
“Through The Nero Book Awards, we continue our long-running support of the arts and to strengthen our community-based roots.
“Caffè Nero is a premium coffee brand and these Awards similarly represent excellence in literature.
“We are grateful for the support we received in our inaugural year, and we look forward to continuing to work with publishers and authors to bring these exceptional books to as many people as possible, both in our coffee houses and the wider community.
“Our goal is to inspire writers to write, readers to read and everyone to live a richer life through ideas and storytelling.”
The 2024 winners are set to be announced on January 14, 2025.
As with last year, there will be one winner for each category from which an overall Gold Prize winner will be selected.
Simon Prosser, Publishing Director at Hamish Hamilton, which published Murray’s Gold Prize 2023 winning novel, said: “Winning the Gold Prize was a great extra boost for The Bee Sting as we prepared to launch our paperback edition, and we were delighted when the book went straight into the Top 5 of the Sunday Times paperback fiction bestseller chart.”