Irish book of decade shortlist unveiled

A shortlist of 50 titles for the best Irish book of the decade award has been announced.

Books by the country's top-selling authors such as Seamus Heaney, Edna O'Brien, Sebastian Barry and Anne Enright are among the nominees for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards' prize.

The shortlist of books, published between 2000 and 2010, was selected by a panel of experts.

The winning title will be chosen through an online vote on the Irish Book Awards' website at www.irishbookawards.ie and announced at the end of May.

A spokesperson for the Irish Book Awards said: "The last ten years was a wonderful decade for Irish writing and seeing 50 of the best books gathered together is a spectacle thrilling to behold."

Shortlist for the Irish Book of the Decade Award:

The Story of Lucy Gault  by William Trevor
Star of the Sea  by Joseph O'Connor
Winterwood  by Patrick McCabe
Paula Spencer  by Roddy Doyle
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas  by John Boyne
Tenderwire  by Claire Kilroy
The Secret Scripture  by Sebastian Barry
Heart and Soul  by Maeve Binchy
Brooklyn  by Colm Tóibín
Molly Fox's Birthday  by Deirdre Madden
Stepping Stones  by Dennis O'Driscoll and Seamus Heaney
Let The Great World Spin  by Colm McCann
The Builders  by Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan
This Charming Man  by Marian Keyes
The Speckled People  by Hugo Hamilton
The New Policeman  by Kate Thompson
Memoir  by John McGahern
A Long Long Way  by Sebastian Barry
The Pope's Children  by David McWilliams
Back From The Brink  by Paul McGrath
The Gathering  by Anne Enright
Walk the Blue Fields  by Claire Keegan
Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade  by Ross O'Carroll Kelly
The Truth Commissioner  by David Parks
The Parish  by Alice Taylor
Bog Child  by Siobhan Dowd
Lessons in Heartbreak  by Cathy Kelly
Forgive and Forget  by Patricia Scanlan
The Lovers  by John Connolly
It's a Long Way from Penny Apples  by Bill Cullen
The Stolen Village  by Des Ekin
Artemis Fowl  by Eoin Colfer
Yours, Faithfully  by Sheila O'Flanagan
The Sea  by John Banville
With My Lazy Eye  by Julia Kelly
Connemara: Listening to the Wind  by Tim Robinson
In the Woods  by Tana French
Tatty  by Christine Dwyer Hickey
A Secret History of the IRA  by Ed Moloney
The Master  by Colm Tóibín
There Are Little Kingdoms  by Kevin Barry
In the Forest  by Edna O'Brien
Keane  by Roy Keane
Havoc in Its Third Year  by Ronan Bennett
Judging Dev  by Diarmaid Ferriter
Netherland  by Joseph O'Neill
That They May Face The Rising Sun  by John McGahern
PS I Love You  by Cecelia Ahern
Skulduggery Pleasant  by Derek Landy
Foolish Mortals  by Jennifer Johnston