The New Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction

For the past 39 years the Hennessy Literary Awards have proved a vital launching pad for many of the most exciting writers in Ireland today. Initially founded and edited by David Marcus, the New Irish Writing page now appears monthly in the Sunday Tribune. Writers like Joseph O'Connor, Colum McCann and Marina Carr spoke to us for the very first time through these pages, edited for over twenty years by Ciaran Carty.

The New Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction brings together a selection of the stories published in New Irish Writing over ten years of these prestigious awards, from 1995 to 2005. Edited by Ciaran Carty and Dermot Bolger, The New Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction takes us back to the thrilling beginnings of some of our best emerging writers.

Commenting on the new anthology, editor Dermot Bolger said: 'Although there are more major literary prizes, The Hennessy Awards are perhaps the most important awards for Irish writers in that they come at the start of a career, they are a vote of confidence in the future of Irish writing and become a calling card for such successive generations of writers to make themselves heard.'

Editor Ciaran Carty of the Sunday Tribune said: 'This New Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction is dedicated not just to the writers who contributed to it but to the 15,000 other writers who didn't, but who in a way made it possible. The message of the book is … keep on writing.'

The Hennessy Awards are highly regarded by many of Ireland’s leading writers. 'Long may the Hennessy Awards continue,' said former award winner Joseph O’Connor. 'They celebrate the power of the short story to speak for our time, the miraculous, fundamental, moral importance of the words.'