A SIX-STRONG SHORTLIST has been announced for the best Irish sports book category at the 2022 An Post Irish Book Awards.
The winner of the Eason Sports Book of the Year, in association with Ireland AM, will be announced on 23 November when the awards ceremony takes place at The Convention Centre in Dublin.
A one-hour TV special covering the awards will also be broadcast on RTÉ One on 7 December.
Keith Earls’ ‘Fight Or Flight: My Life, My Choices’, written in collaboration with journalist Tommy Conlon, won the 2021 award.
Life Begins in Leitrim, the autobiography of Zak Moradi, with Niall Kelly, editor of The42, is one of the six nominees for 2022. Born at the height of the Gulf War, Moradi spent his formative years living in a refugee camp under the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein. His family eventually moved to Ireland when Moradi was 11 and settled in Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, with Moradi going on to represent the county’s senior hurling team.
Next up, @easons Sports Book of the Year in association w/ @IrelandAMVMTV 😍
— An Post Irish Book Awards (@AnPostIBAS) October 20, 2022
@TadhgCoakley @thekickart @pughp2p @patcashhealy @ZakmoradiGAA @niallkelly Roddy Collins, @AkaPaulHoward @Kelly64kg @doyle_roddy
#APIBAS #ReadersWanted pic.twitter.com/W2GJElvNl6
The Game by Tadhg Coakley is also nominated. Described as ‘part memoir’, The Game looks at Coakley’s time as a player and fan, and how sport has shaped his life, as well as tackling sport on a universal scale and its immeasurable influence on our world.
Siobhán Doyle is nominated for A History of the GAA in 100 Objects, which repositions a range of objects, originating from the GAA, into the expanded field of Irish history by placing them as central to our understanding of past ideas and experiences.
Point to Point, by Healy Racing with words by Richard Pugh, celebrates the origins of Point to Point racing, the courses countrywide, the horses, the riders, the handlers, and the grassroots of Irish racing.
The Rodfather, the autobiography of Roddy Collins, with Paul Howard, is also included, while the autobiography of Olympic champion Kellie Harrington, Kellie, with Roddy Doyle, completes the shortlist.
The public can cast their votes online for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website. All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Token vouchers. Votes can be cast from 9am on 21 October until 10 November.
Eason Sports Book of the Year in Association with Ireland AM
- The Game – Tadhg Coakley (Merrion Press)
- A History of the GAA in 100 Objects – Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press)
- Point to Point – The Heart of Irish Horse Racing – Healy Racing, with words by Richard Pugh and photographs by Pat ‘Cash’ Healy (The O’Brien Press)
- Life Begins in Leitrim – Zak Moradi, with Niall Kelly (Gill Books)
- The Rodfather – Roddy Collins, with Paul Howard (Sandycove)
- Kellie – Kellie Harrington, with Roddy Doyle (Sandycove)
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