Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan has been announced this evening as the overall An Post Irish Book of the Year 2024, decided by judges Maria Dickenson (chair), general manager of Dubray, Madeleine Keane, literary editor of the Sunday Independent, Elaina Ryan, chief executive of Children’s Books Ireland, critic Alex Clark, and Cyril McGrane of An Post.
“Heart, Be at Peace was the unanimous choice of the judges from among the fantastic array of titles shortlisted this year,” Dickenson said. “Donal Ryan’s writing has earned him a place among the greatest names in Irish literature and this lyrical novel speaks to the very heart of modern Irish society.
“Weaving 21 voices together, Ryan portrays the passions, frailties and sorrows of one Irish town with compassion and clarity. Heart, Be at Peace is a masterful achievement and we congratulate Donal warmly on winning this award.”
Heart, Be at Peace is the sequel to Ryan’s debut novel, The Spinning Heart, which also won the Book of the Year Award in 2012. He also won Novel of the Year in 2020 for Strange Flowers.
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The Irish Times reviewer Sarah Gilmartin wrote: “Ryan’s prose is another masterclass in balance – the mix of brutality and poignancy, the push and pull – that sees him get away with lines that could seem overwrought in less capable hands. The panoramic portrait of a rural community in Heart, Be At Peace calls to mind the work of [John] McGahern.”
The other shortlisted titles were Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher, illustrated by Dermot Flynn; Frankie by Graham Norton; A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey; Obsessed: The Autobiography by Johnny Sexton with Peter O’Reilly; and Nature Boy: A Journey of Birdsong and Belonging by Seán Ronayne.
Ryan, from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, lectures in creative writing at the University of Limerick, and lives with his wife Ann Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.
Previous Book of the Year winners include Paul Murray for The Bee Sting, Sally Hayden for My Fourth Time, We Drowned, Fintan O’Toole for We Don’t Know Ourselves, Doireann Ní Ghríofa for A Ghost in the Throat, Emilie Pine for Notes to Self and Mike McCormack for Solar Bones.
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