The An Post Irish Book Awards, one of Ireland’s most distinguished and popular literary events, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, they have released a curated list featuring 60 of the best books from category winners over the past two decades. Selected through the votes from leading booksellers nationwide, the list comprises 20 Fiction, 20 Non-Fiction and 20 Children’s titles. These are drawn from An Post Irish Book Awards winners since the ceremony first began in 2006. Waterford is strongly represented by father/daughter due John and Kathy Burke, and Shona Shirley MacDonald.
  • Irelandopedia, Kathi & John Burke, Gill Books
  • Girls Who Slay Monsters, Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald, HarperCollins Children's Books
Irelandopedia written and illustrated by Kathi & John Burke and published by Gill Books in 2015 won the Audience Choice Award at the An Post awards that same year. Girls Who Slay Monsters, written by Ellen Ryan, and illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald was published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2022. That year, it won the Children's Book of the Year at the An Post awards and was also nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration. Additionally, books by a wide range of celebrated authors including Seán Ronayne, Emilie Pine, Joseph O’Connor, Emma Donoghue, Peter Donnelly and Catherine Ryan Howard feature on the list.

An Post 20 Years of Children’s Books

  • Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian, Eoin Colfer, Puffin
  • Asking For It, Louise O’Neill, Quercus
  • Black and Irish: Legends, Trailblazers and Everyday Heroes, Leon Diop and Briana Fitzsimons, illustrated by Jessica Louis, Little Island Books
  • Break the Mould, Sinéad Burke, illustrated by Natalie Byrne, Wren & Rook
  • Fia and the Last Snow Deer, Eilish Fisher, illustrated by Dermot Flynn, Puffin
  • Girls Who Slay Monsters, Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald, HarperCollins Children's Books
  • Irelandopedia, Kathi & John Burke, Gill Books
  • Knights of the Borrowed Dark, Dave Rudden, Puffin
  • Run Home Little Fox, Tom McCaughren & Erika McGann, illustrated by Shannon Bergin, The O'Brien Press
  • Savage Her Reply, Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Karen Vaughan, Little Island Books
  • Shh! We Have a Plan, Chris Haughton, Walker Books
  • Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire, Derek Landy, HarperCollins Children's Books
  • Solo, Gráinne O'Brien, Little Island Books
  • Stand by Me, Judi Curtin, The O'Brien Press
  • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne, Definitions, Transworld
  • The Golden Hare, Paddy Donnelly, The O'Brien Press
  • The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Oliver Jeffers, HarperCollins Children's Books
  • The Lonely Beast, Chris Judge, Andersen Press
  • The President’s Dog, Peter Donnelly, Gill Books
  • Wilderness, Roddy Doyle, Scholastic
 

20 Years of Fiction

  • 56 Days, Catherine Ryan Howard, Corvus, Atlantic Books
  • Again, Rachel, Marian Keyes, Penguin Books
  • Holding, Graham Norton, Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton
  • It Should Have Been You, Andrea Mara, Penguin Books
  • Kala, Colin Walsh, Atlantic Books
  • Normal People, Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
  • Room, Emma Donoghue, Picador
  • Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, Penguin Books
  • Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan, Faber & Faber
  • Solar Bones, Mike McCormack, Tramp Press
  • Spill Simmer Falter Wither, Sara Baume, Originally published by Tramp Press (February 2015), Paperback edition published by Windmill Books (October 2015)
  • The Bee Sting, Paul Murray, Penguin Books
  • The Gathering, Anne Enright, Vintage
  • The Ghosts of Rome, Joseph O'Connor, Harvill Secker
  • The Importance of Being Aisling, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, Gill Books
  • The Sea, John Banville, Picador
  • The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry, Faber & Faber
  • The Spinning Heart, Donal Ryan, Black Swan Ireland, Transworld
  • Trespasses, Louise Kennedy, Bloomsbury
  • Unravelling Oliver, Liz Nugent, Penguin Books
 

An Post 20 Years of Non-Fiction

  • 30 Years at Ballymaloe, Darina Allen, Kyle Books, Hachette
  • A Ghost in the Throat, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Tramp Press
  • A Thread of Violence, Mark O’Connell, Granta Books
  • Atlas of the Irish Revolution, John Crowley, Donál Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo, Cork University Press
  • Champagne Football, Mark Tighe & Paul Rowan, Penguin Books
  • Connemara: Listening to the Wind, Tim Robinson, Penguin Books
  • Constellations, Sinéad Gleeson, Picador
  • Country Girl, Edna O’Brien, Faber & Faber
  • Diary of a Young Naturalist, Dara McAnulty, Ebury Press
  • Judging Dev, Diarmaid Ferriter, Royal Irish Academy
  • My Fourth Time, We Drowned, Sally Hayden, 4th Estate, HarperCollins
  • Nature Boy: A journey of birdsong and belonging, Seán Ronayne, Hachette Books Ireland
  • Never Mind the B#ll*cks, Here's the Science, Luke O'Neill, Gill Books
  • Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), Manchán Magan, illustrated by Megan Luddy, Gill Books
  • Notes to Self, Emilie Pine, Originally published by Tramp Press (2018), Paperback edition published by Penguin Books (2019)
  • Overcoming, Vicky Phelan, with Naomi Linehan, Hachette Books Ireland
  • Poor, Katriona O’Sullivan, Penguin Books
  • Staring at Lakes, Michael Harding, Hachette Books Ireland
  • Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney, Dennis O’Driscoll, Faber & Faber
  • We Don't Know Ourselves, Fintan O'Toole, Apollo, Head of Zeus

    The public is now invited to vote for their favourite titles from the Top 60 list.

  • Voting will open on Monday, 23rd March and close at 6pm on Monday, 13th April.

  • The final Top 20 Favourite Irish Books of the past 20 years will then be revealed on Sunday, 19th April.

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