Lally nominated for Irish Book Award

Catriona Lally is one of the nominees for Biography of the Year at the 2026 An Post Irish Book Awards. Her memoir, Home Economics, competes for the honor alongside other literary works.

The award ceremony will be held on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, at the Convention Centre Dublin. RTÉ One is scheduled to broadcast the event on December 10, 2026.

Lally is 47 years old and lives in Ireland. She has written a novel called Eggshells, which has been adapted into a screenplay. She describes her character in the book, Vivian, as someone who would be played by actress Helena Bonham Carter.

In a recent interview, Lally discussed her personal life and writing career. She is the second of four siblings, born within a five-year span. She noted that the close age gaps prevented any of the typical birth order archetypes from defining her childhood.

Lally said she is generally agreeable and avoids making demands in public places. However, she admitted that her patience has limits when defending her children. She recalled telling an older child in a playground that she would kill him if he threw stones at her toddler again.

The writer has a middle name, Mary. She explained that many children in her 1980s primary school class shared that name. She said she now likes the name, though she once preferred more famous names like Kylie or Madonna.

Lally used to run marathons before a torn meniscus and subsequent surgery ended her career as a runner in her early 30s. She said the injury led her to join an evening writing course. She wonders if she would have become a writer if she had not stopped running.

Her favorite place in Ireland is her uncle’s house in Gladree, five miles west of Belmullet, County Mayo. She spent her childhood summers there and remembers roaming the fields and bogs. Her extended family recently gathered in a pub in Corclough for her cousin’s 50th birthday in August.

Lally said she is happiest now that she has children, though that happiness is mixed with low-level worry. She believes she was lucky to experience her teens and twenties in the 1990s and early 2000s, before social media and climate change became major concerns.

She has not lost someone very close to her yet. She said she has had the luxury of not thinking too much about death. Lally also mentioned that she cannot drive and would love to have a trade like plumbing or electrical work, but lugging tools on a bus does not seem feasible.