Sally Rooney, Donal Ryan & Graham Norton win at Irish Book Awards

Sally Rooney, Graham Norton, Hector Ó hEochagáin, and Donal Ryan are among the winning authors at this year's An Post Irish Book Awards.

Sally Rooney was named Author of the Year, while Donal Ryan's Heart, Be at Peace won the Eason Novel of the Year prize.

Broadcaster Hector Ó hEochagáin's The Irish Words You Should Know received a prize for Best Irish-Published Book of the Year, with the Ireland AM Popular Fiction Book of the Year going to Graham Norton for Frankie and rugby player Johnny Sexton awarded Eason Sports Book of the Year for his memoir Obsessed: The Autobiography.

The Biography of the Year prize went to Nature Boy: A Journey of Birdsong and Belonging by ecologist and ornithologist Seán Ronayne, with Irish Food History: A Companion, edited by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire & Dorothy Cashman named Bookselling Ireland Food & Drink Book of the Year and Little Acorns in Derry voted An Post Bookshop of the Year.

Author Paul Howard, best known for his Ross O'Carroll Kelly series, was given a Special Recognition Award to acknowledge his contribution to the Irish publishing industry over the past 25 years, while Martin Waddell received the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award.

The first children's writer to receive the award, Waddell is best known for his picture book Owl Babies, illustrated by Patrick Benson, and the Little Bear books, illustrated by Barbara Firth.

First awarded in 2006, the An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote the very best of Irish writing talent. The ceremony, held in the Convention Centre, Dublin and hosted by Miriam O'Callaghan, gathered an extended literary community that includes readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians.

See the full list of winners below:

TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year

The Irish Words You Should Know – Hector Ó hEochagáin (Gill Books)

Dubray Biography of the Year

Nature Boy: A Journey of Birdsong and Belonging – Seán Ronayne (Hachette Books Ireland)

Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year

Atlas of the Irish Civil War: New Perspectives - Hélène O'Keeffe, John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, John Borgonovo and Mike Murphy (Cork University Press)

WHSmith Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother’s Secrets – Clair Wills (Allen Lane, Penguin Random House)

Eason Novel of the Year

Heart, Be at Peace – Donal Ryan (Doubleday, Penguin Random House)

Bookselling Ireland Food & Drink Book of the Year

Irish Food History: A Companion - Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire & Dorothy Cashman (Royal Irish Academy)

Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year

Gaeilge i Mo Chroí - Irish In My Heart: Your Guide to Loving and Living the Irish Language – Molly Nic Céile (Hachette Books Ireland)

Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year

Sally Rooney

Eason Sports Book of the Year

Obsessed: The Autobiography – Johnny Sexton with Peter O’Reilly (Sandycove, Penguin)

Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana

Geansaithe Móra – Gearóidín Nic Cárthaigh (LeabhairCOMHAR)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior

The Golden Hare – Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)

Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior

Fia and the Last Snow Deer – Eilish Fisher, illustrated by Dermot Flynn (Puffin, Penguin Random House Children’s)

International Education Services Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year, in honour of John Treacy

Something’s About to Blow Up – Sam Blake (Gill Books)

Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year

A Stranger in the Family – Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)

Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

The Coast Road – Alan Murrin (Bloomsbury Circus)

Ireland AM Popular Fiction Book of the Year

Frankie – Graham Norton (Coronet)

Special Recognition Award

Paul Howard

The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award

The Last Disco: The Story of the Stardust Tragedy – Sean Murray, Christine Bohan and Nicky Ryan (Eriu)

New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with the Irish Independent

Valentine’s Day – Kathleen Macadam

New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with the Irish Independent

'Onionskin’ – Eilín de Paor

An Post Bookshop of the Year

Little Acorns Bookstore, Derry

Find out more about the An Post Irish Book Awards here.