Friday 3 April 2009

Vote for your favourite book for the Irish Book Awards 2009

Irish Book Awards 2009The shortlists for the Irish Book Awards 2009 have been announced today and feature an eclectic mix of authors including major literary figures like Seamus Heaney, Sebastian Barry, Maeve Binchy and Cecelia Ahern alongside famous names from the world of entertainment and sport including Rachel Allen, Kathryn Thomas, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly and Ronan O’Gara. This is the fourth year of The Irish Book Awards, which are dedicated to honouring Ireland’s literary talent across the entire publishing spectrum. There are ten categories in the Irish Book Awards 2009, including the introduction this year of the ‘Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year’ category, which celebrates the explosion of Irish crime writing in recent times. The Irish Book Awards are open to all Irish authors who had a book published during the last 12 months. One of the categories which will attract much attention is the ‘Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year’ which sees Irish fiction queens Cathy Kelly, Maeve Binchy, Cecelia Ahern, Patricia Scanlan and Marian Keyes go head to head with Ross O’Carroll Kelly for the title. This year, for the first time, the overall winners in nine of the ten categories will be chosen by a public vote, in conjunction with the Irish Literary Academy. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 6th 2009. The shortlists for the Irish Book Awards 2009 emerged from a ballot of over 400 Irish booksellers and librarians throughout the country. Members of the public will now be invited to vote for the winners in each category on the Irish Book Awards website or via RTÉ Radio 1’s The Tubridy Show website and TV3’s Ireland AM website. In addition, every vote cast affords the voter entry to a draw to win up to €750 worth of National Book Tokens.

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