Join us for the annual John McGahern Book Prize and hear excerpts from the winning entry. Now in its fifth year, the prize was established by the University’s Institute of Irish Studies to promote new Irish fiction and to celebrate the memory of one of Ireland’s greatest masters of prose fiction, John McGahern (1934-2006). The competition carries an award of £5,000, for the best debut novel or short story collection by an Irish writer or writer resident in Ireland published in the year 2023.
Following a range of high-quality submissions from across both novels and short story collections, the shortlisting committee, which included former University of Liverpool Vice Chancellor Professor Dame Janet Beer, selected three books: Close to Home by Michael Magee, Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan and Kala by Colin Walsh. The winner will be selected later this summer by novelist and writer Colm Tóibín.