Awards 2017

WINNERS 2017

BEST NOVEL 2017

LADY BETH BY CAROLINE E FARRELL

ABOUT CAROLINE E FARRELL

Caroline E Farrell is a writer and filmmaker from Dublin. Author of the novels LADY BETH and ARKYNE, STORY OF A VAMPIRE, she has also written several feature length and short screenplays including ADAM [2013] and the multi-award winner, IN RIBBONS [2015]. Caroline is a member of the Writers Guild of Ireland, The Irish Writers Union and The Irish Film and Television Academy.

ABOUT LADY BETH

Beth is a quiet, unassuming woman. Attractive, though careless in her appearance, she works hard, living only for her teenage son, Jesse. But Beth has been keeping secrets and when Jessie dies following a drug-fuelled night out, a very different woman emerges. Beth had always refused to tell Jesse who his father was, an issue that they fought about just before his death. Now, compounded by grief, guilt, regret and the need to find out the truth of who is responsible for her son’s death, she will journey back to her old life, before Jesse, to a sordid past, and to the man she tried so desperately to forget.

BEST ANTHOLOGY 2017

CIRCLE & SQUARE BY PLATFORM ONE & EDITED BY EILEEN CASEY

Go to Eileen’s Website

ABOUT PLATFORM ONE & EILEEN CASEY

Eileen Casey is originally from the midlands, living in South Dublin. Her awards include Hennessy Emerging Fiction Award and A Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship. Her work is widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Collections include poetry (New Island/AlTenTs) and prose (Arlen House). One of her short stories appeared in Faber & Faber’s ‘All Over Ireland,’ edited by Deirdre Madden. Her work is also broadcast on Sunday Miscellany and Living Word. Over twenty-five years she has facilitated writing groups in South Dublin and further afield. In 2006, she set up a community press, Fiery Arrow, which has enabled several writers to make their debut. Fiery Arrow has also published a number of community-based anthologies.

Platform One are a group of award winning writers who meet at Rua Red Arts Centre/Glashuas Hotel, Tallaght. Individual writers have published collections and won major awards, the most recent being a short listing in Francis McManus Short Story Award. Other short listings include New Irish Writing, among others. The group are currently engaged with a mentoring programme and also, in association with artist Fiona Dowling, are involved with a per cent for art project, ‘Songs in the Workplace.

ABOUT CIRCLE & SQUARE

Circle & Square is an anthology of drama, prose, poetry and photography edited by award winning writer, Eileen Casey. The publication includes established and emerging writers. Circle & Square takes a unique approach, drawing inspirations, images, characters and themes from the familiar world of Shopping Centre. Circle & Square also successfully brings together arts & culture with the world of commercial enterprise. Some of the intention of this anthology is to showcase the high quality of a mentorship tradition in South Dublin, enjoyed by writers in Platform One via a Visiting Writer Programme.

BEST JUNIOR BOOK 2017

THE WORMS THAT SAVED THE WORLD BY KEVIN DOYLE & SPARK DEELEY

Go to Kevin’s Website

ABOUT KEVIN DOYLE & SPARK DEELEY

Spark Deeley is an artist, illustrator and writer. She lives in Cork where she divides her time between professional art practice and community art projects. Previous publication include ‘Into the Serpent’s Jaws’, ‘Do You Remember Me?’ (with musician Catherine Cunningham). She has also facilitated the production of two volumes of art and writing by community groups in Cork – ‘Knitting for Squids’ and ‘The Light of the Lantern’.

Kevin Doyle is a short story writer. He won the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award in 2016 and a CAP for Indies Award in the same year for his collection Do You Like Oranges? He lives in Cork and teaches creative writing in the community sector.

ABOUT THE WORMS THAT SAVED THE WORLD

Inspired by the campaign to keep access to the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork free and open for all, The Worms That Saved The World tells the story of a community of rebellious earthworms whose lives are turned upside down when a luxury golf course invades their headland. The worms attempt to negotiate but their efforts are met with insecticide. Our long, wriggly friends have had enough! They decide to take action… Beautifully illustrated and action packed, The Worms That Saved The World celebrates community, solidarity and standing up for rights. A story for children and (ssssssh) adults too!

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK 2017

MY LIFE AS A BENCH BY JAQ HAZEL

Go to Jaq’s Website

ABOUT JAQ HAZEL

Jaq Hazell is an award-winning author and cartoonist. Her YA novel My Life as a Bench was named Book of the Year 2017 by the Rubery Book Award and her psychological thriller, I Came to Find a Girl, was included in the Telegraph’s Best Crime Fiction of 2015. Born near Portsmouth to an Irish mother and an English father, she studied textile design at Nottingham Trent University and has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She has worked as a journalist and magazine editor. She lives in London with her family and her dog, Basil

ABOUT MY LIFE AS A BENCH

There are so many benches lining the riverside, each and every one tragic in its own way.

Ren Miller has died aged seventeen and yet her consciousness lives on, inhabiting her memorial bench by the River Thames in London. Ren longs to be reunited with her boyfriend Gabe, but soon discovers why he has failed to visit. Devastated, she must learn to break through and talk to the living so she can reveal the truth about her untimely end.

BEST NON-FICTION BOOK 2017

PEDAL THE PLANET BY BREIFNE EARLEY

Go to Breifne’s Website

ABOUT BREIFNE EARLEY

Happiest when lost in nature, hiking to the top of a mountain or on two wheels, adventurer and author Breifne Earley is looking to inspire others to live a positive life. He is frightened of rollercoasters, loves being active, playing music, binge watching TV shows and is is very fond of going to the cinema alone during daylight hours. His personal achievements include winning the longest endurance sporting event in the world & writing a bestselling book. Breifne spends his time sharing his inspiring story in workplaces and schools around the globe

ABOUT PEDAL THE PLANET

Stuck in a negative work environment, severely overweight, single, and feeling the world would be better off without him, Breifne Earley made the decision to end his own life. Less than five years later he won the longest endurance sports event in the world. This is the inspirational story of how one man stepped back from the brink of suicide, redesigned his life and sixteen months cycling through 27 countries on 5 continents with 3 robberies, 3 crashes and 44 flat tyres to set an example of the life-saving message “It’s okay not to feel okay.”