Shortlist for 2021 Book Prize

Shortlisting for the John McGahern Book Prize for debut Irish fiction

The University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies is proud to announce the shortlist for the second John McGahern Annual Book Prize, carrying a prize of £5,000, for the best debut novel or short story collection by an Irish writer or writer resident in Ireland.

24 entries for books published 2021 were received and have now been read and adjudicated upon by the shortlisting committee of Professor Dame Janet Beer, Vice-Chancellor, University of Liverpool; Professor Frank Shovlin, Professor of Irish Literature, University of Liverpool; and Dr Eleanor Lybeck, Senior Lecturer of Literature at the Institute of Irish Studies, University Liverpool.

Three books were shortlisted as follows:

  *   James Harpur, The Pathless Country (Cardiff: Liquorice Fish Books);

“Harpur’s The Pathless Country in an historical novel that tracks Patrick Bowley, an apprentice carpenter from rural Galway, across time and space as he undertakes a spiritual quest. The novel shuttles between turn-of-the-century Ireland and London, capturing mounting social, political, and cultural tensions in the run up to the First World War and the Easter Rising Harpur writes throughout with compelling assurance, and the ambition of his plot sets this debut apart.”

  *   Louise Kennedy, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac (London: Bloomsbury);

“Louise Kennedy’s The End of the World is a Cul de Sac is an arresting first collection of fifteen stories peopled by a gallery of women under pressure from men who are at best bullies and losers, and, at worst, rapists and murderers. Always one feels a sense of truth telling, lived experience and permanence from this remarkably achieved volume.”

  *   Eimear Ryan, Holding Her Breath (Dublin: Sandycove).

“Eimear Ryan’s Holding Her Breath is an elegant and fluently written campus novel about Beth, an elite swimmer who has had to take a break from the sport for the sake of her mental health. The novel sees Beth undertake a voyage of self-discovery via her growing interest in her grandfather’s poetry and her slow return to swimming.”

An overall winner will be chosen this summer by the Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, Colm Tóibín.