Two Tipperary writers are shortlisted some of the top prizes at the Irish Book Awards.
Donal Ryan’s ‘Strange Flowers’ is one of six nominees for the Novel of the Year award.
Meanwhile, Lough Derg RNLI volunteer Eleanor Hooker has been shortlisted for the Irish Poem of the Year award at the Irish Book Awards for her work ‘Through the Ears of a Fish’.
She also contributed to ‘A Page from My Life’ which is shortlisted in the Best Irish-Published Book of the Year category.
Eleanor has been reflecting on the achievement:
“Yes it’s a massive validation because when you start to write, it’s between you and a blank page and you’re not thinking about any of this stuff, you just need to get the words down.
To have the poem judged by Richard Skinner and he said ‘Ok there’s four poems and yours is one of them’, that’s massive validation.
It’s a real boost in these times for writers.”
