Mayo native on An Post Irish Book Awards 2019 short-list

THE shortlist for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2019 features Mayo native Dr. Norah Patten for her book, Shooting for the Stars – My Journey to Become Ireland’s First Astronaut.

The An Post Irish Book Awards consist of a diverse mix of exceptional writing from new and established writers across 16 categories, including Novel of the Year, Children’s, Cookery, Crime Fiction, Popular Fiction, Non-Fiction, Sports, Short Story, Poetry, Teen and Young Adult and Irish Language.

Norah's book is shortlisted in the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior) category.

In the book Norah tells us about herself, all about space and the life of an astronaut as we follow her on a journey high above the earth. Learn about the wonders of space travel, astronaut training and life without gravity.

This is a fun and fascinating book about following your dreams.

The awards celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible, bringing together a huge community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the very best of Irish writing talent.

Following its hugely successful first year sponsoring the awards in 2018, An Post has launched its latest #ReadersWanted campaign, celebrating the value and joy of reading and encouraging everyone to pick up more books, more often.

To tie in with the announcement of the An Post Irish Book Awards shortlist, the public are now being asked to cast their votes online for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website www.anpostirishbookawards.ie. All voters will be entered into a draw to win one of four €100 National Book Tokens vouchers.

Votes may be cast until November 13 and the winners will be announced at the gala ceremony in the Convention Centre, Dublin, on November 20.

Highlights of the awards event, presented by Miriam O’Callaghan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on November 23, immediately after the Ray D'Arcy Show.