47-year-old author wins final Irish Book Award slot for memoir

Catriona Lally has secured a final spot at the 2026 An Post Irish Book Awards for her memoir Home Economics. The author, 47, is nominated in the Biography of the Year category. The winners will be announced at a ceremony held on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, at the Convention Centre in Dublin.

RTÉ One will broadcast the event on December 10, 2026. Lally’s book explores themes of motherhood, career, and personal identity. In a recent interview, she discussed the physical and mental shifts that led her from professional running to writing.

Lally stated that a meniscus tear during a marathon, followed by ineffective surgery, ended her running career in her early 30s. She said she needed a new hobby and joined an evening writing course. She noted that she might not have become a writer if she had not stopped running.

The author described herself as second of four children, born within a five-year span. She said her parents reared the siblings without obvious favouritism. Lally, whose middle name is Mary, grew up in Ireland and spent summers at her uncle’s house in Gladree, five miles west of Belmullet, County Mayo.

She recalled the remoteness and wildness of the coastal peninsula. In August 2026, her extended family gathered in a pub in Corclough for a cousin’s 50th birthday. The celebration took place a few weeks after the All-Ireland football win. Lally said the conversation centered on where everyone was when the final whistle blew.

Lally lives in the 47-year-old demographic that experienced the 1990s and early 2000s before the rise of social media and climate anxiety. She said she felt able to study English for four years during a period of economic optimism. She is unsure if she would have chosen the arts today, given current housing and employment concerns.

She identified her biggest personal regret as lacking a practical trade. Lally said she would like to be a plumber or electrician but is not handy. She also cannot drive, which makes lugging tools on a bus unfeasible. She imagines the satisfaction of building or fixing something.