Hennessy’s proud involvement with the Literary Awards reflects a long standing commitment to the pursuit of excellence by recognising and celebrating authors who have played a significant role in developing the fabric of Irish life through their contributions to Irish literature and demonstrates the importance of nurturing emerging talent and writers.
For the past 39 years, the winners of the Hennessy X.O Literary awards have emerged from the New Irish Writing Page, which is published in The Sunday Tribune on the first Sunday of every month and is open to new and emerging writers who are Irish or normally resident in Ireland. All stories and poems published are eligible for the annual Hennessy X.O Literary Awards.
The New Irish Writing Page has become internationally renowned for picking out future literary stars and launched the careers of Patrick McCabe, Neil Jordan, Dermot Healy, Deirdre Madden, Eilis Ni Duibhne, Frank McGuinness, Sebastian Barry, Dermot Bolger, Joseph O’Connor, Colum McCann, Mary O’Donnell, Mary O’Malley, Vona Groarke, John Boyne, Anne Enright, Hugo Hamilton, Philip O Ceallaigh and many other leading Irish writers.
2009 SHORTLISTEES
First Fiction
Rob O’Shea Cut Throat
Madeleine D’Arcy Is this Like Scotland?
Sara O’Loughlin The Beautiful People
John O’Donnell Promise
Oona Frawley Cowtipping
Alice Redmond Other People
Emerging Fiction
James Lawless The Kiss
Andrew Fox Currency
Michael O’Higgins The Migration
Niamh Boyce Steps of Stairs
Alison Wells Bog Body
Kate Dempsey Ginny Doran Writes Down the Whole Honest Truth
Emerging Poetry
Michael Massey Fuchsia, By The Third Day, The Writer & The Dog
Olive Broderick Misconception, Market Forces
Aideen Henry Hymen, The House of Forgotten Things
Cathal McCabe The Marten, The Snowman for Kamil and Julia
Helena Mulkerns Blue Tarpaulin
Cliona O’Connell Migrations, Dinner with Old Friends on the Summer Solstice, Daylight Savings
The 2009 Hennessy X.O Literary Awards winners are:
* Michael O'Higgins in the Emerging Fiction category for his short story The Migration.
* Olive Broderick in the Emerging Poetry category for her poems Market Forces and Misconception
* Madeleine D'Arcy in the First Fiction category for her short story Is This Like Scotland?
* Madeleine D'Arcy was also named New Irish Writer of 2009.
Neil Jordan was inducted into the Hennessy X.O Literary Awards Hall of Fame, joining Hugo Hamilton, Anne Enright, Frank McGuinness, Pat McCabe, Colum McCann, Joe O'Connor and Dermot Bolger.
My personal favourite was Market Foces by Olive Broderick for how relevant the piece was for Ireland today
Market Forces
Tonight, love, the moon is big over Drake's Pool
and the wood on the far bank is clearly defined
in shadow. The air is so clear that I can hear
the faint 'ching, ching, ching' of the breeze against
the masts of the yachts that are moored there.
There is too much sweetness about all this.
Tomorrow everything will be as normal.
All of that has been organised already.
The school run, the groceries, the monthly
payments
- all confidently sorted. Nothing to do now
but figure out how best to tell the children.
When I get home, I imagine, we will talk
'til well past midnight, trying to read between
the lines of a far-off dissertation; and how
the turn of a page can have such disastrous
consequences. But still, hearing in our minds
the voices of our parents, repeat assurances
of how this might well bring something better.
And in the small hours glad to have each other,
whispering, where will we be this time next year?
Well done to all involved in these awards which are very important to our culture; past, present & future