IT WAS a night of literary prize-giving and congratulations, with Diarmaid Ferriter's book, Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Éamon de Valera, picking up three of the nine 2008 Irish Book Awards in Dublin's Mansion House.
Described as "a book of considerable intellectual force and widespread appeal" by Prof Paul Bew, when he reviewed it in this newspaper some months ago, Judging Devwas chosen by the public as the winner of the Tubridy Show Listeners' Choice Award and it also won the Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award and the Eason Irish Published Book of the Year Award.
Anita Notaro's book Take A Look At Me Nowwas the winner of the other public-voting category, the Galaxy Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award.
The Cork-born novelist, playwright and short story writer William Trevor, who will be 80 next month, was honoured with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature.
He was described by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the awards ceremony as "one of our country's most prolific writers and above all, a master storyteller".
Mr Ahern congratulated all the writers who had been shortlisted, noting that the shortlist had included three Irish Man Booker prize winners as well as a Pulitzer prize winner.
Noting the win by first-time author Julia Kelly of the International Education Services Irish Newcomer of the Year Award for her book With My Lazy Eye, the Taoiseach said that: "As the proud father of a successful writer, I know that writing takes a huge amount of commitment and I know how difficult it can be for a writer to become established."
This year's Man Booker prize winner, The Gathering, by the Dublin-born writer Anne Enright, won the longest-standing award (since it was initiated six years ago), the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year 2008 Award, beating fellow Man Booker prize winner John Banville, writing under his alias Benjamin Black, and other authors Joseph O'Connor and Ronan Bennett.
Trevor Brennan: Heart and Soulby rugby player Trevor Brennan, with Gerry Thornley of this newspaper, won the Energise Sport Irish Sports Book of the Year Award.
The Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children's Book of the Year went in the junior category to Brendan O'Brien for his book, The Story of Ireland, and to Roddy Doyle in the senior category for his book, Wilderness.
The shortlisted books for the awards emerged from a ballot of more than 300 Irish booksellers and librarians.
The overall winners in seven of the nine categories were chosen through a voting process conducted by the Irish Literary Academy, which consists of a panel of individuals drawn from the worlds of bookselling, publishing, libraries, literary journalism and the arts.