Three Irish writers — Maggie O’Farrell, Bernard MacLaverty, and Mark O’Connell — have made the longlist of 12 authors for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize.

Irish authors Sebastian Barry and Maggie O’Farrell have been shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Novel Award

Jamie Johnson, Noah Murphy, Maggie O’Connell, Charlie Stubbs, Shakes, The Blok, El Matador. Are we seeing the emergence of a crop of fictional footballers worthy of standing on the shoulders of giants like Roy Race, Blackie Gray, Tommy Barnes, Billy Dane, Hamish Balfour, Johnny Dexter and Glipton Grasshoppers’ star man Ross Nelson?