Twenty dynamic and exciting Irish novelists are part of a new initiative by An Post Irish Book Awards called ‘New Voices 20 Best New Irish Writers’.
The list focuses on showcasing a new generation of exceptional Irish writers who are reshaping the literary landscape with their fresh perspectives and compelling storytelling. It has been compiled based on nominations from publishers, booksellers and librarians across the country.
This new wave of Irish writers is enriching the literary landscape with vibrant voices that combine tradition and modernity. Their sharp, insightful prose has won wide acclaim and resonates with both Irish and global audiences. These new literary talents are not only preserving Ireland’s rich storytelling heritage, but also expanding its boundaries, making contemporary Irish literature even more dynamic and globally relevant than ever before.
The shortlisted authors could work in any genre of fiction, had no more than two books published in the last ten years and were Irish by birth, held Irish citizenship or were permanent residents of Ireland. A panel of literary experts then selected the 20 authors, highlighting some of the most exciting new talent in contemporary literature.
The list, which has no overall winner, will also be promoted in bookshops and libraries nationwide in September to celebrate the 20 authors in the run-up to the An Post Irish Book Awards 2024 campaign.
The 20 authors featured in this collection are:
Claire Coughlan
Claire Coughlan is from Kildare and has worked as a journalist in Ireland for many years. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UCD and lives in County Kildare with her husband and daughter. Where They Lie is her first novel.
Louise Nealon
Louise Nealon studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast in 2016. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. “Snowflake” is her first novel and was the best-selling debut in Ireland. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2021.
Fiona Scarlett
Fíona Scarlett is originally from Dublin but now lives in County Kildare with her husband and two children. She has an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and a Masters in Early Childhood Education. She works full-time as a primary school teacher and Boys Don’t Cry is her first novel.
Aingeala Flannery
Aingeala Flannery is a writer and broadcaster. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, The Amusements, was published by Penguin Sandycove in 2022. She is also currently Writer-in-Residence at Dublin City University.
Alan Murrin
Alan Murrin is an Irish novelist based in Berlin. In 2021 he won the Bournemouth Writing Prize for his short story The Wake, which was later shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. He holds a Masters in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia and also writes for the Irish Times, Times Literary Supplement and Spectator.
Cathy Sweeney
Cathy Sweeney is a writer based in Ireland. Her short stories have appeared in Stinging Fly, Dublin Review, Egress, Winter Papers, Banshee and the Tangerine and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her first short story collection, Modern Times, was published in 2020.
Catríona Lally
Caitríona Lally is the recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (2018) and a Lannan Fellowship for Fiction (2019). In October 2021, she was announced as the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub. Her first novel, Eggshells, was shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2015. Wonderland, her second novel, was published by New Island Books in 2021.
Colin Walsh
Colin Walsh’s short stories have won numerous awards, including the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Prize and the Hennessy Literary Award. In 2019 he was named Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year. Kala is his first novel and was a number one bestseller. He is from Galway and lives in Belgium.
Disha Bose
Disha Bose was born and raised in India. She has lived in Calcutta, London and Dublin. She worked in the technology industry before starting a master’s program in creative writing at University College Dublin. She now lives in Cork, Ireland. Dirty Laundry is her first novel.
Ferdia Lennon
Ferdia Lennon was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Libyan father. He has a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. He was awarded a Literature Fellowship from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2019 and 2021. After spending many years in Paris, he now lives in Norwich with his wife and son.
Louise Kennedy
Louise Kennedy grew up just a few miles from Belfast. She is the author of the Women’s Prize-nominated novel Trespasses and the acclaimed short story collection The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, and the only woman to be nominated twice for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award (2019 and 2020). Before starting her writing career, she worked as a cook for nearly thirty years. She now lives in Sligo.
Megan Nolan
Megan Nolan was born in Waterford, Ireland, and currently lives in New York. For her debut novel, Acts of Desperation, Nolan received a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Ordinary Human Failings was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Michael Magee
Michael Magee is fiction editor at Tangerine and a graduate of the PhD programme in creative writing at Queen’s University Belfast. Close to Home is his first novel and winner of the 2023 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
Michelle Gallen
Michelle Gallen grew up a few miles from the border during the Northern Ireland conflict. She studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and Publishing at Stirling University. Her debut novel, Big Girl, Small Town, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Factory Girls, won the Comedy Women in Print Award and was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. Both books are being adapted for television.
Naoise Dolan
Naoise Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. Her debut novel, Exciting Times, was a Sunday Times bestseller, has been widely translated and optioned for television. She won the 2021 Hawthornden Prize and has been shortlisted and longlisted for several other awards. She now lives in Berlin.
Niamh Campbell
Niamh Campbell’s debut novel This Happy was shortlisted for An Post Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the John McGahern Book Prize and the Kate O’Brien Award. In 2020 she also won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for Love Many. In 2021 Campbell won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. She lives and works in Dublin.
Nicole Flattery
Nicole Flattery is the author of the short story collection Show Them a Good Time. She is the winner of the An Post Irish Book Award, the Kate O’Brien Prize, the London Magazine Prize for Debut Fiction and the White Review Short Story Prize. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Trinity College and lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Noel O’Regan
Noel O’Regan is from Tralee, Co. Kerry. His debut novel, Though the Bodies Fall (Granta Books, 2023), won an Arts Council Next Generation Artist Award and was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction, the John McGahern Book Prize and Newcomer of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards.
Sheila Armstrong
Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the north-west of Ireland. How to Gut a Fish, her first short story collection, was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and nominated for the Edge Hill Prize. Falling Animals, her debut novel, was selected for BBC2’s Between The Covers Book Club and nominated for the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
A Mannion
Una Mannion lives in County Sligo, Ireland. Her debut novel, A Crooked Tree, made the Irish bestseller list, was nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Dalkey Emerging Writer Award, and won the Kate O’Brien Prize. Her second novel, Tell Me What I Am, was shortlisted for the Encore Awards and won the prestigious Gold Dagger at the CWA Dagger Awards. In September 2024, Una will join the Oscar Wilde Centre and the English Department at Trinity College Dublin as a lecturer in creative writing.
The jury consisted of:
- Maria Dickenson, Chair of the Jury and Board Member of the Irish Book Awards
- Angus Laverty, public affairs manager at An Post
- Breda Brown, Chair of the Irish Writers Centre
- Dawn Behan, President of the Irish Booksellers Association
- Eileen Morrissey, President of the Library Association of Ireland
- Madeleine Keane, literary editor of the Sunday Independent
- Sinéad Mac Aodha, Executive Director of Literature Ireland
Maria Dickenson, Chair of the Jury and Board Member of the Irish Book Awards, said: “We are delighted to continue to support Irish authors and this year we are showcasing 20 of the most promising names in Irish literature as part of the New Voices initiative. As a nation of storytellers, Ireland has an incredible level of writing talent, which was demonstrated by the wide range of amazing authors who applied for this initiative.
Irish literature is in good hands with this new generation of writers selected for New Voices. We look forward to celebrating them in the coming weeks and at our awards ceremony in November.”
David McRedmond, CEO of An Post, says: “I have always loved the connection between the authors we support and the community of publishers, booksellers and readers that has developed around the An Post Irish Book Awards. Now we are taking it a step further and saying: ‘Just look at what’s next.’
Here’s to the next wave of authors meeting readers. The magic continues.”
Now in its 19th year, the An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate Irish literature and make it accessible to the widest possible audience. The initiative brings together a huge community of people who love books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the best new and established Irish writing talent, and 2024 will be no different.
The An Post Irish Book Awards categories include Novel of the Year, Children’s Book (Junior and Senior), Cookery Book, Crime, Popular Fiction, Non-Fiction, Sport, Short Story, Poetry, Teen and Young Adult, and Irish Language.
The shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards will be announced at the end of October, with the awards ceremony taking place on November 27. A television programme will be broadcast on RTÉ One in December, during which one of the 2024 winning titles will be named “An Post Irish Book of the Year 2024”.
