A BOOK WRITTEN in one single 223-page sentence has been voted Ireland’s best book of 2016.
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack has been chosen as the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book of the Year 2016. The title has been won in previous years by the likes of Donal Ryan, Louise O’Neill and Mary Costello.
The Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year 2016 was chosen by public vote from the list of category winners announced at the recent Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
It has been quite the year for the Dublin-based Tramp Press – McCormack’s book had previously won the Goldsmiths Prize, while another of their authors Sara Baume won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize earlier this week for her book Spill Simmer Falter Wither.
Mike McCormack said that he was “‘delighted with this wholly unexpected honour”.
The Mayo writer’s previous works include Getting it in the Head (1995), Notes from a Coma (2005), which was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award, and Forensic Songs (2012).
Speaking to TheJournal.ie earlier this year, Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis-Goff of Tramp Press explained that they had started up their own press almost on a whim – but that they were totally dedicated from day one to publishing exceptional literature.
“You just find exceptional stuff and you bring it to readers and that’s all you have to do really,” said Davis-Goff. “And as long as you keep it simple, it’s amazing how much expense can be spared, it’s amazing how light on your feet you can be.”
Added Coen:
We saw with lots of publishers that a good manuscript will come in and someone will say ‘yes it’s great, but it won’t sell and we can’t take a risk’. So what we talked about doing was as a rule never rejecting work on the basis that it won’t make any money.
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