{"id":620777,"date":"2026-09-10T21:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T21:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620777\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T21:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T21:56:15","slug":"nicole-flattery-awarded-rooney-prize-for-irish-literature-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620777\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicole Flattery awarded Rooney Prize for Irish Literature \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicole Flattery has been awarded the 2026 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature at a gala dinner in Trinity College Dublin<\/a> this evening attended by 150 guests from the world of Irish literature, including 22 previous winners.<\/p>\n

Established in 1976, the prize celebrates an outstanding body of work by an emerging Irish writer under the age of 40. <\/p>\n

To mark its 50th anniversary, Dr Peter Rooney, benefactor and custodian of the prize, has doubled its value to \u20ac20,000. The prize is administered by the Oscar Wilde Centre for Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the Rooney Prize is an absolute dream come true,\u201d Flattery said. \u201cNot only does it offer encouragement to keep going at a pivotal time in my work and career, but it feels so special and meaningful to be included in such a storied list. I am very grateful to Peter Rooney for his generosity and support, and to the judges for the time, care and consideration they gave to my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author is from Kinnegad, Co Westmeath. Her debut short-story collection Show Them a Good Time was published in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, appeared in 2023. Her second, Everything Is Nice, Everything Is Lovely, to be published next May, was acquired by Jonathan Cape in a six-way auction in 2026. She has won The White Review Short Story Prize, the Kate O\u2019Brien Prize for Fiction, the Irish Book Award for best short story and the London Magazine Debut Fiction Award.<\/p>\n

Literary agent Jonathan Williams, chair of the selection committee, said: \u201cA vital element is what the published works portend for the writer\u2019s future endeavours. The jury members were impressed by Nicole\u2019s offbeat, quirky short-story collection. <\/p>\n

\u201cEmily Dickinson wrote at the beginning of one of her most celebrated poems, \u2018Tell all the truth but tell it slant\u2019. Nicole Flattery seems to have imbibed this striking advice in her enigmatic and poker-faced storylines. She is a very worthy winner.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rooney said: \u201cNicole Flattery invites us to look at life\u2019s challenges as potentially absurd \u2013 not to dismiss them, but to dismantle their negative impact. Her characters possess a depth of humanity that is at once endearing and illuminating. We are absolutely thrilled to recognise her immense talent and add her name to our ever-growing list of prestigious winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ferdia Lennon wins 2025 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for Glorious ExploitsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Previous recipients include Neil Jordan (1981), Frank McGuinness (1985), Glenn Patterson (1988), Anne Enright (1991), Colum McCann (1994), Mike McCormack (1996), Claire Keegan (2000), Claire Kilroy (2004), Kevin Barry (2007), Lucy Caldwell (2011), Doireann N\u00ed Ghr\u00edofa (2016), Mark O\u2019Connell (2019) and Michael Magee (2023).<\/p>\n

The jury comprised Williams; writers Vincent Woods, Martina Devlin and Carlo G\u00e9bler; Literature Ireland\u2019s Sin\u00e9ad Mac Aodha; and Maynooth University\u2019s Dr Rita Sakr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicole Flattery has been awarded the 2026 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature at a gala dinner in Trinity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,15342],"class_list":["post-620777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}