Chidi Ebere wins best debut over 50 prize

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Joe Cleary reflects on Gaza’s long-running suffering through the prism of Palestinian poetry. And there is a Q&A with Karin Slaughter about her career and latest thriller.

Reviews are Diarmaid Ferriter on The Irish Republican Brotherhood, 1914-1924 by John O’Beirne Ranelagh; Conor O’Clery on Robert Fisk’s Night of Power; Henrietta McKervey on Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark; Brian Cliff and Elizabeth Mannion on the best new crime fiction; Edel Coffey on Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner; Paul Clements on local history books; Michael Cronin on Jessie Lightfoot: Francis Bacon’s Nanny by Maylis Besserie, tr. Clíona Ní Ríordáin; Siobhan Long on the latest edition of The Companion to Irish Traditional Music; Pat Carty on Operation Biting by Max Hastings; NJ McGarrigle on House of Beckham by Tom Bower; James Conor Patterson on Cross by Austin Duffy; and Sarah Gilmartin on Bodies by Christine Anne Foley.

This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Kala, the award-winning debut novel by Colin Walsh, just €5.99, a €5 saving.

The RSL has announced Chidi Ebere as the winner of the 2024 RSL Christopher Bland Prize for best debut by an author aged over 50 for his novel, Now I Am Here. The prize, now in its sixth year, sees Chidi awarded £10,000 by Shaparak Khorsandi, chair of judges.

“The spiritual storm calms, the emotional dust settles, and I’m left feeling honoured to have had so much support on my literary journey,” said Chidi. “From those beside me, to the agent, editor and publishing house; they sent my novel out into the world. And the judges, they took the time to consider Now I Am Here, and then blessed it with the 2024 Christopher Bland Prize. That one sent good vibrations through the blood and bones.

“Later, having finally managed to control the spontaneous cartwheels, and with cheeks aching from the longest grin in modern human history, a voice speaks from deep within, ‘It’s all right to never give up; it’s fine to follow one’s own path; when it comes to writing, you’re never too old to put pen to paper.’ I can agree with that.”

This year’s judges were Josh Cohen, Niall Griffiths and Shaparak Khorsandi, who identified the retelling of stories of forgotten voices as a unifying thread in their shortlist selection.

Shaparak said: ‘The lightness of touch when telling such powerful, impactful stories is what made this our favourite. There were many really strong contenders for this award, and I am so happy we chose Chidi as our winner.’

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The judges and dates have been announced for the International Booker Prize 2025, as submissions open. Chaired by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter, the panel consists of prize-winning poet, director and photographer Caleb Femi; writer and publishing director of Wasafiri, Sana Goyal; author and International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator Anton Hur; and award-winning singer-songwriter Beth Orton.

The longlist of 12 or 13 books will be announced on February 25th and the shortlist of six books on April 8th. The winning title will be announced at London’s Tate Modern on May 20th.