About the award
“Non-fiction” covers a multitude of subjects and now that biographies have their own category, this category will cover works of history, politics, business, travel, and cultural affairs. We are grateful to executive search and recruitment agency, Odgers Berntdson. for their continuing sponsorship.
Sponsored by
The 2021 Shortlist
Odgers Berndtson Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2020, In association with the Buisness Post
A Ghost in The Throat
By Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Doireann Ní Ghríofa has sculpted a fluid hybrid of essay and autofiction to explore the ways in which a life can be changed in response to the discovery of another’s – in this case, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, famously referred to by Peter Levi as ‘the greatest poem written in either Ireland or Britain during the eighteenth century.’
A devastating and timeless tale about finding your voice by freeing another’s.
Previous Winners
2020 – A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
2019 – Constellations by Sinead Gleeson
2018 – People Like Me by Lynn Ruane
2017 – Wounds: A Memoir of War & Love by Fergal Keane
2016 – I Read the News Today, Oh Boy by Paul Howard
2015 – Children of the Rising by Joe Duffy
2014 – The Life and Loves of a He Devil: A Memoir by Graham Norton
2013 – Staring at Lakes by Michael Harding
2012 – Country Girl by Edna O’Brien
2011 – Easy Meals by Rachel Allen
2010 – A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall by Neil Richardson
2009 – Stepping Stones by Dennis O’Driscoll & Seamus Heaney
2008 – Judging Dev by Diarmuid Ferriter
2007 – Connemara by Tim Robinson
2006 – In The Dark Room by Brian Dillon