About the award
Five of the nation’s top RTÉ presenters – Joe Duffy, Ray D’Arcy, Zainab Boladale, Doireann Garrihy, and Sean Rocks – choose a favourite title to champion in The RTÉ Audience Choice category. These five titles then form the shortlist to be voted upon by members of the public.
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The Shortlist 2021
RTÉ Radio 1 Listeners' Choice Award 2020
A Light That Never Goes Out
By Keelin Shanley
When Keelin Shanley passed away in February aged 51, it was hard to grasp that someone so filled with life was gone. Keelin reveals with real honesty what it’s like to keep living your life and having a career while dealing with the challenges of cancer treatment. Written with the help of Alison Walsh and completed posthumously by Keelin’s husband Conor Ferguson, A Light That Never Goes Out is a remarkable story of courage and resilience.
Previous Winners
(Category previously titled RTÉ Radio One Listeners' Choice Book of the Year)
2020 – A Light that Never Goes Out by Keelin Shanley
2019 – Overcoming by Vicky Phelan with Naomi Lineham
2018 – Skin Deep
by Liz Nugent
2017 – he: A novel
by John Connolly
2016 – Lying In Wait
by Liz Nugent
2015 – Irelandopedia
by Fatti & John Burke
2014 – It’s All In The Head
by Majella O’Donnell
2013 – Staring at Lakes
by Michael Harding
2012 – Just Mary
by Mary O’Rourke
2011 – How To Be A Woman
by Caitlin Moran
2010 – Come What May
by Dónal Óg Cusack
2009 – The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
2008 – Judging Dev
by Diarmaid Ferriter
2007 – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne