Mayo book shop in contention for prestigious award

Twelve bookshops across the country have been longlisted for the ‘An Post Bookshop of the Year’ category at this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards, the annual literary event that celebrates and promotes Irish writing and authors to the widest range of readers possible.

The ‘An Post Bookshop of the Year’ category is designed to acknowledge the significant role played by independent bookshops and local branches of bookshop chains in helping their local communities to find and savour the titles of their choice.

The longlist of twelve bookshops around Ireland for 2025 in alphabetical order are:

Antonia's Bookstore, Trim, Co. Meath.

Bridge Books Dromore, Co. Down.

Castle Book & Card Centre, Castlebar.

Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Co. Galway

Chapters Bookstore, Dublin 1.

Genius Juniors, Ennis, Co. Clare.

Leaf and Bower, Ballincollig, Co. Cork.

Liber Bookshop, Sligo town.

Tales for Tadpoles, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

The Book Centre, Waterford.

The Company of Books Ranelagh, Dublin 6.

The Maynooth Bookshop, Co. Kildare.

Customers were asked to vote for their favourite bookshops and explain the reason for their choice.

The bookshops that received the most votes were then longlisted and have been invited by the judges to enter a written submission.

For more information on the process, visit here.

The shortlist will be officially announced on October 22.

The overall winner of ‘An Post Bookshop of the Year’ will be presented with their trophy at the An Post Irish Book Awards event on November 27 along with a prize worth €15,000 from An Post Commerce.