Donal Ryan 'overjoyed' after winning Orwell Prize with novel Heart, Be At Peace

The Tipperary author said he was 'overjoyed' to receive the award, calling the moment 'very special and unexpected'

Donal Ryan in Limerick. Picture: Manon Gilbart.

Donal Ryan has said he is “overjoyed” to have won the prestigious Orwell Prize for political fiction.

The Tipperary native was announced as the winner in London for his latest novel, Heart, Be At Peace.

“It was an amazing honour just to be shortlisted, and very unexpected to receive the award. I was overjoyed, and to be introduced and presented by the great Jim Crace was very special,” he told the Irish Examiner.

A sequel to his debut, The Spinning Heart, his latest novel tells the story of a small town in rural Ireland through the voices of 21 characters. 

Heart, Be At Peace explores a community that has weathered the storms of economic collapse and is now looking towards the future.

The panel for this year’s Orwell Prize for fiction was chaired by author Jim Crace, who said Ryan’s book was chosen as the winner “for its clarity” and the “perfectly pitched voices” of its characters. 

Mr Crace described the novel as “exceptional.”

The author joins a list of former Irish winners, including Anna Burns and Claire Keegan.

Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina, who died in July 2023 in the war in Ukraine, is the posthumous winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her book Looking at Women, Looking at War.

Mr Ryan said: “It was an emotional occasion, with the heroic Victoria Amelina’s posthumous award for political writing”.

Every year, the Orwell Foundation awards prizes for literary work that mirrors George Orwell's ambition to "make political writing into an art."