County Roscommon writer wins John McGahern Award
The winner of the 2024 John McGathern Award for Literature, Shane Tivenan from Drum pictured with his parents, Batty and Mary, fiancée, Bolorchimeg Dashdorj and sister Eadaoin Tivenan MacKessy. Pic. Brian Farrell
A County Roscommon writer won the John McGahern Award at the recent Iron Mountain Literature Festival.
Shane Tivenan from Drum, in South Roscommon picked up the award for emerging Irish writers of fiction at the event in Carrick-on-Shannon.
He was presented with the award by Leitrim County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Paddy O'Rourke.
Leitrim County Council developed the award to encourage the development of emerging Irish writers and pay tribute to the exceptional contribution of John McGahern to both literature and Leitrim.
The recipient of the award receives a prize of €2,500. Previous winners have included Sonya Gildea and Zoë Comyns.
The Iron Mountain Literature Festival ran from Friday, October 4th to Sunday, October 6th and featured other writers including Caoilinn Hughes and Kevin Barry, as well as the novelist and filmmaker Neil Jordan, actor Brendan Conroy, who starred in Pat Collins’s film 'That They May Face the Rising Sun', and Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, wife of the late journalist Robert Fisk.
Shane first came to prominence as a writer in 2020 when he won the prestigious Francis MacManus RTÉ Short Story Competition.
He turned to writing after moving to Spain to teach English, following a career as an electronic and electro-folk music festival DJ and producer.
