Bisto Book of the Year Awards | predictions
The Bisto Book of the Year shortlist, and the winners, is the best kept secret in Ireland – but all will revealed on Monday!
Ahead of hearing the shortlist I’m slipping on my fortune-telling garb and rubbing the crystal ball – i.e. guessing – to predict who will win what.
I’m torn with various favourites but after some consideration - I’ve whittled it down to Oliver Jeffers’ - I really do hope Heart in the Bottle is crowned as the
2011 Bisto Book of the Year.
The Eilis Dillon Award for a first book is probably the most important prize in Ireland - highlighting a debut and establishing a career - and I’d love to see it awarded to Chris Haughton for A Bit Lost.
And then there’s the shortlist - Sheena Wilkinson’s Taking Flight, Darren Shan’s The Thin Executioner, Niamh Sharkey’s Mavis and Marge, Peter Prendergast’s Dancing in the Dark, Kevin Waldron’s Tiny Little Fly, John Boyne’s Noah Barleywater Runs Away and Derek Landy’s Mortal Coil.
Some interesting choices there. Noah Barleywater and Chris Haughton are shoo-ins for a nomination. I’d be very surprised, but very impressed, if Darren Shan and Derek Landy make the shortlist. Both hugely deserve it but…
…but the Bisto precedent isn’t for what is popular but rather what is literary.
*crossing my fingers for some Landyman or Shanster action though*