The Limerick Literary Festival committee are delighted to announce Orlaine McDonald as the winner of the 11th annual Kate O’Brien Award for her novel No Small Thing. The judges found it to be an accomplished, beautifully written, tender, intelligent and compassionate novel and a worthy winner of the 2025 Kate O’Brien Award.
This is an Award for the best novel or short story collection by an Irish female writer. The Award comes with a 2000 euro prize, very generously sponsored by Bill and Denise Whelan. This is a wonderful gift as it not only gives financial support to debut writers but it also adds to the significance of the award, making it an important one to aim for. The award was announced at a ceremony on Sunday February 23rd during the 2025 festival.
This year has, once again, been a wonderful year of debut novels by Irish female writers. Once again it was hard to reduce the shortlist to four.
Shortlist judge Vivienne McKechnie commented on the high standard of all the submissions.
This year we had sixteen debut books submitted for consideration for the Kate O’Brien Award, the most we have ever had. It is wonderful to see such talent emerging and to read the excellent debut novels and short stories produced by Irish female writers. It was a difficult task to come up with a shortlist and I would like to congratulate all sixteen writers for well-written, thought-provoking books on a wide range of themes. We look forward to a lively discussion with the shortlisted authors at the Festival in a special event on Sunday 23rd of February. This is an opportunity to meet these writers at the beginning of their careers and to listen to their stories.”
The winner of the Award was chosen from the following shortlist:
Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong
Bodies by Christine Anne Foley
No Small Thing by Orlaine McDonald
Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire
The judges for this year’s Award are committee member Marie Hackett, poet and committee member Vivienne McKechnie, writer and Children’s book buyer for Kenny’s Bookshop Grainne O’Brien, Director of Narrative 4 James Lawlor and novelist Dan Mooney.
The Kate O’Brien Award was established in 2015. It celebrates new Irish writing by a female author. It was established by the organising committee of the Kate O’Brien Weekend to celebrate Irish Women’s Writing in memory of Kate O’Brien. It is an honorary award which celebrates debut Irish fiction; this award is a great affirmation for the debut winner and a recognition of the literary quality of the book. There is a presentation to the winner at the Limerick Literary Festival in honour of Kate O’Brien.
It is an award presented for debut book which could be either a book of short stories or a novel. The competition is open to debut female writers so long as they are Irish. There are no age or geographic limitations. The shortlist is announced at the beginning of January and the shortlisted authors are invited to the Festival, where the winner is announced.
In 2015, the winner was Martine Madden for her novel Anyush.
In 2016, the shortlist was Caitriona Lally with Eggshells, Danielle McLaughlin with Dinosaurs On Other Planets, Doreen Finn with My Buried Life, and Sara Baume with Spill Simmer Falter Wither. 2016 winner was Sara Baume.
In 2017, the shortlist for the award was Tanya Farrelly with When Black Dogs Sing, Roisin O’Donnell with Wild Quiet and E. M. Reapy with Red Dirt. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2017 award was Tana Farrell.
In 2018, the shortlist for the award was Lisa Harding with Harvesting, Maria Hoey with The Last Lost Girl, Andrea Mara with The Other Side Of the Wall, and Sally Rooney with Conversations With Friends. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2018 award was Lisa Harding for her novel Harvesting.
In 2019, the shortlist for the award was Eileen Battersby with Teethmarks On My Tongue, Rebecca O’Connor with He Is Mine And I Have No Other, Caroline O’Donoghue with Promising Young Women, Sue Rainsford with Follow Me To Ground, and Dervla McTiernan with The Ruin. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2019 award was Sue Rainsford.
In 2020, the shortlist for the award was Sarah Davis Goff with Last Ones Left Alive, Nicole Flattery with Show Them A Good Time, Lucy Sweeney Byrne with Paris Syndrome, and Anne Griffin with When All is Said. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2020 award was Nicole Flattery.
In 2021, the shortlist for the award included Rachel Donoghue with The Temple House Vanishing, Alice Lyons with Oona, Marianne Lee with A Quiet Tide, Elaine Feeney with As You Were, Michelle Gallen with Big Girl Small Town and Niamh Campbell with This Happy. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2021 award was Elaine Feeney.
In 2022, the shortlist for the award was Sarah Gilmartin for Dinner Party, Louise Kennedy for The End Of The World Is A Cul De Sac. Annie Macmanus for Mother Mother, Una Mannion for A Crooked Tree, Eimear Ryan for Holding Her Breath and Fiona Scarlett for Boys Don’t Cry. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2022 award was Una Mannion.
In 2023, the shortlist for the award was Emilie Pine for Ruth and Pen, Olivia Fitzsimons for The Ouiet Whispers Never Stop, and Sheila Armstrong for How to Gut a Fish. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2023 award was Emilie Pine.
In 2024, the shortlist for the award was Slant by Katherine O’Donnell, The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick and The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan. The winner of the Kate O’Brien 2024 award was Aoife Fitzpatrick.
We celebrate the shortlisted authors and the winner on the Sunday of the Festival.
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