Tipperary's Donal Ryan takes home An Post Irish Novel of the Year

Donal Ryan has won the An Post Novel of the Year Award with his "incredible and thought provoking" book, Heart, Be at Peace.

The novel follows various different characters in small town Ireland and a community on the mend after a turbulent history, is a companion book to his widely acclaimed 2012 novel The Spinning Heart.

The Nenagh native also won in 2020 with his novel Strange Flowers.

HUGE congratulations to Donal Ryan, whose magnificent novel #HeartbeatPeace won Novel of the Year at last night’s @AnPostIBAS pic.twitter.com/w5K2at4ar0

— Kirsty Dunseath (@KirstyDunseath) November 28, 2024

Donal's writing often explores themes of Irish society and identity. While his novel The Spinning Heart centred around the economic crash and how a small rural town death with the aftermath, Heart, Be at Peace follows the same community now going through a different set of problems through 21 different perspectives.

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Ryan's honest and compassionate portrayal of characters throughout his novels draw the reader into their unique but all too familiar world, it's no surprise he is widely regarded as on of Ireland's most talented contemporary authors.

The An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote the very best in Irish writing taken.

The ceremony was held in the Convention Centre in Dublin on Wednesday November 27.