{"id":84994,"date":"2025-09-25T15:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84994\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:19:13","slug":"john-boyne-wins-novel-of-the-year-in-france-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84994\/","title":{"rendered":"John Boyne wins novel of the year in France \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In The Irish Times this weekend, John Banville tells me about his latest novel, Venetian Vespers. Ned Guinness writes about his new book, Guinness: A Family Succession: The True Story of the Struggle to Create the World\u2019s Largest Brewery. Frank McNally recalls his decision-making days in the Department of Social Welfare in an extract from his book, Not Making Hay \u2013 The Life and Deadlines of a \u2018Diary\u2019 Farmer. Marian Keyestalks to R\u00f3is\u00edn Ingle on the set of The Walsh Sisters, the adaptation of her novel series which begins on RT\u00c9 One on Sunday. And there is a Q&A with Tom Cox about his new novel, Everything Will Swallow You.<\/p>\n

Reviews are Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Shea on She Died Young: A Life in Fragments by Brenda Fricker; Michael Cronin on House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk, tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones; John Walshe on The Traitors Circle: The Rebels Against Hitler and the Spy who Betrayed Them by Jonathan Freedland; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Ruby Eastwood on The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai; Eamon Sweeney on 168 Songs of Hatred and Failure by Keith Cameron & A Sound So Very Loud: The Inside Story of Every Song Oasis Recorded by Ted Kessler and Hamish McBain; Andrew Deacon on Not Making Hay by Frank McNally; <\/b>Helen Cullen on All the Way to the River: Love, Loss and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert; Gemma Tipton on How to Art by Kate Bryan & David Shrigley; Muiris Houston on Dr Bot by Charlotte Blease; and Kevin Power on Venetian Vespers by John Banville.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s Irish Times Eason offer is Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney, just \u20ac5.99, a \u20ac6 saving. <\/p>\n

\"EasonEason offer <\/p>\n

The Fnac Novel Prize, one of France\u2019s leading literary prizes, has been awarded this year to John Boyne for The Elements, published by JC Latte\u0300s and translated by Sophie Aslanides. He succeeds Marie Vingtras, who won in 2024 for Les a\u0302mes fe\u0301roces. <\/p>\n

Since 2002, the Fnac Novel Prize has been awarded by a unique jury made up of 400 Fnac booksellers and 400 members. This year, Boyne became the first Irish author to win, the first foreign author chosen since Tiffany McDaniel\u2019s Betty (2020). \u201cThis choice illustrates once more the prize\u2019s mission,\u201d the judges said, \u201cto celebrate the diversity of contemporary literary creation, whether Francophone or translated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn The Elements, John Boyne explores, through four interwoven stories, the invisible forces that shape lives and questions our relationship to guilt and innocence, to wounds and resilience. With limpid and spellbinding prose, Boyne probes the elements \u2013 water, earth, fire, and air \u2013 and human beings to reveal their contradictions and fragilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He is best known for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Gallimard Jeunesse, 2006), which has sold more than six million copies worldwide. His adult novel A Ladder to the Sky established him on the French literary scene.<\/p>\n

\"BillyBilly Collins <\/p>\n

Poetry Ireland is delighted to present an evening with one of our generation\u2019s most-loved poets, former US poet laureate, Billy Collins. The event will take place in Findlater\u2019s Church (The Abbey), Parnell Square, Dublin, on October 21st at 7pm. Tickets are available to purchase via the Poetry Ireland website. Billy will read work from across his career, including his upcoming collection Dog Show.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The Linen Hall has announced the launch of the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award 2025. McLaverty (1904\u20131992) was one of the foremost proponents of the Irish short story. His archive was lodged with the library by his executors in 2005. The purpose of the award is to foster and encourage the tradition of the short story. Below are the guidelines for entry. <\/p>\n

First prize is \u00a32,000, with \u00a3250 each for two runners-up. They will be published in a limited anthology. The judges are author Neil Hegarty (The Jewel; Inch Levels; The Story of Ireland) and editor Emma Warnock of No Alibis Press. The entry fee is \u00a310 and the deadline is October 31st. Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hegarty said: \u201cIt\u2019s a great pleasure to judge this edition of the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award, and in so doing to honour a writer whose work I have always admired. This Award matters: and I\u2019m very much looking forward to reading your entries.\u201d <\/p>\n

Linen Hall librarian Samantha McCombe said: \u201cWe are privileged to hold the archive of Michael McLaverty at the Linen Hall and are delighted to celebrate his fine prose by continuing to honour Michael McLaverty\u2019s commitment to foster and encourage creativity in the short story form.\u201d <\/p>\n

The inaugural competition in 2006 was won by Patrick O\u2019Hanlon. Subsequent winners have gone on to publish further works, including: Aiden O\u2019Reilly (2008 winner): Greetings, Hero; Mich\u00e8le Forbes (2010): Ghost Moth, Edith & Oliver; Mandy Taggart (2012): The Man of the House; Annemarie Neary (2014): A Parachute in the Lime Tree, Siren, The Orphans; Kevin Doyle (2016): To Keep a Bird Singing, A River of Bodies; Eamon McGuinness (2018): The Wrong Heroes; Niall Bourke (2020): The Erection Specialist. <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The T.S. Eliot Lecture<\/a> returns to the Abbey stage on December 14th. Produced by the T.S. Eliot Estate in association with the Abbey Theatre, this lecture returns as the 10th in a series that has been inspired by Eliot\u2019s impact on modern literature. This year\u2019s lecture will be delivered by Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn. The evening will be introduced by the Abbey Theatre\u2019s artistic director Caitr\u00edona McLaughlin, interspersed with readings by Cathy Belton, and followed by a conversation with James Shapiro, and marks 85 years since Eliot spoke at the Abbey Theatre to commemorate and celebrate W.B. Yeats on the first anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The Killing of the Reavey Brothers: British murder and cover-up in Northern Ireland (Mercier Press), will be launched in Hodges Figgis, Dawson St, Dublin 2 on Thursday, October 9th at 6pm by former RT\u00c9 broadcaster, Joe Duffy.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

A Celebration of Derek Mahon, devised by Peter Fallon of The Gallery Press in association with University of Notre Dame, is to be held on November 4th, at 7.30pm, in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Westland Row, Dublin 2. Special guest readers include John Banville, Claire Keegan, Paul Muldoon, Eil\u00e9an N\u00ed Chuillean\u00e1in and Stephen Rea, with rare video recordings of Mahon. Tickets: \u20ac25<\/a><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Veteran broadcaster and Irish language enthusiast John Creedon will be interviewed by fellow broadcaster and media consultant Se\u00e1n Perry on Sunday, November 9th at 2.30pm in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon. <\/p>\n

Author of best-sellers including An Irish Folklore Treasury and That Place We Call Home, Creedon hosts a popular weeknight show of music and stories on RT\u00c9 Radio 1. His childhood memoir This Boy\u2019s Heart was shortlisted for the 2024 An Post Awards, and the author will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts from University College Cork in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In The Irish Times this weekend, John Banville tells me about his latest novel, Venetian Vespers. Ned Guinness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[1580,359,18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-84994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-book-club","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}