Nicole Flattery has been awarded the 2026 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature at a gala dinner in Trinity College Dublin this evening attended by 150 guests from the world of Irish literature, including 22 previous winners.
Established in 1976, the prize celebrates an outstanding body of work by an emerging Irish writer under the age of 40.
To mark its 50th anniversary, Dr Peter Rooney, benefactor and custodian of the prize, has doubled its value to €20,000. The prize is administered by the Oscar Wilde Centre for Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin.
“Winning the Rooney Prize is an absolute dream come true,” Flattery said. “Not only does it offer encouragement to keep going at a pivotal time in my work and career, but it feels so special and meaningful to be included in such a storied list. I am very grateful to Peter Rooney for his generosity and support, and to the judges for the time, care and consideration they gave to my work.”
The author is from Kinnegad, Co Westmeath. Her debut short-story collection Show Them a Good Time was published in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, appeared in 2023. Her second, Everything Is Nice, Everything Is Lovely, to be published next May, was acquired by Jonathan Cape in a six-way auction in 2026. She has won The White Review Short Story Prize, the Kate O’Brien Prize for Fiction, the Irish Book Award for best short story and the London Magazine Debut Fiction Award.
Literary agent Jonathan Williams, chair of the selection committee, said: “A vital element is what the published works portend for the writer’s future endeavours. The jury members were impressed by Nicole’s offbeat, quirky short-story collection.
“Emily Dickinson wrote at the beginning of one of her most celebrated poems, ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant’. Nicole Flattery seems to have imbibed this striking advice in her enigmatic and poker-faced storylines. She is a very worthy winner.”
Rooney said: “Nicole Flattery invites us to look at life’s challenges as potentially absurd – not to dismiss them, but to dismantle their negative impact. Her characters possess a depth of humanity that is at once endearing and illuminating. We are absolutely thrilled to recognise her immense talent and add her name to our ever-growing list of prestigious winners.”
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Previous recipients include Neil Jordan (1981), Frank McGuinness (1985), Glenn Patterson (1988), Anne Enright (1991), Colum McCann (1994), Mike McCormack (1996), Claire Keegan (2000), Claire Kilroy (2004), Kevin Barry (2007), Lucy Caldwell (2011), Doireann Ní Ghríofa (2016), Mark O’Connell (2019) and Michael Magee (2023).
The jury comprised Williams; writers Vincent Woods, Martina Devlin and Carlo Gébler; Literature Ireland’s Sinéad Mac Aodha; and Maynooth University’s Dr Rita Sakr.