A novel by a Killybegs author has been nominated for a prestigious nod at the Irish Book Awards.
Garrett Carr’s novel, The Boy from the Sea, has been shortlisted as one of the finalists in the Irish Novel of the Year category.
The book is set in Killybegs, starting in 1973.
Following a fishing family called the Bonnars, it deals with the ramifications of their decision to adopt an abandoned baby.
This decision to follow a family in the fishing industry alone makes it unique, according to the book’s author.
“Fishing families have hardly appeared in Irish literature at all,” says Garrett.
“(It) is part of the reason I wanted to write about one – like a businessperson spots a gap in the market, I felt it was a gap in the culture. Plus, it is my own background, I am the son of a fisherman, so I felt it was a job I could take on.”
Novelist Garrett Carr.
In a couple of paragraphs the beginning of the novel, fisherman Ambrose Bonnar travels around Ireland to work out of Waterford, Cork, Galway and other harbours before returning to Donegal.
“I included that as I wanted to make it clear the novel is set not just in Ireland, but in Donegal,” Garrett explains.
“I wanted to capture its distinct character and the first step was saying it’s not like these other places.”
He also emphasises that this is a novel set in the real Killybegs, based on the dramatic comings and goings of the town as it entered a rapid period of growth in the 1970s and 80s.
“The town was always such a one-off, especially in the 1970s and 80s, when The Boy from the Sea is set, and when the fishing industry was expanding so rapidly, there was great drama to be found in how fortunes were won and lost in those times. I saw no good reason to invent a fictional town, the story would’ve lost more than it gained.”
Public voting is now open for the Irish Book Awards, at www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/.
Novel by Killybegs author nominated for Irish Book Awards was last modified: October 27th, 2025 by Staff Writer