The Hughes and Hughes Irish Novel of the Year title in the Irish Book Awards was won last night by Patrick McCabe for his disquieting tale Winterwood.
Paul McGrath. Photo: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times
Former Ireland footballer Paul McGrath's candid autobiography Back From the Brinkwon the Club Energise Irish Sports Book of the Year.
McCabe beat fellow writers John Connolly, Claire Kilroy and John Boyne for the title.
Boyne's haunting tale of two children caught up in the horrors of Nazi Germany, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, won two awards, the Tubridy Show Listeners' Choice Award and the senior category in the Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children's Book of the Year title.
The Galaxy Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year award went to Paul Howard's Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade, written under his alias Ross O'Carroll-Kelly.