'My morale shot up' - Retired Derry man longlisted for award after writing debut novel
Derry writer longlisted for prestigious award after publishing debut novel
Derry-born author Patrick Tooban has been longlisted for the 2026 CAP Awards with his historical novel The Oak and the Eagles.
The CAP Awards are a respected Irish recognition of independent authors across fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books.
The shortlist will be announced in August, with winners named in October at Chapters Bookstore, Dublin.
The Oak and the Eagles is the first novel in the Calgach Scéla cycle, a series rooted in Irish and Scottish Iron Age history.
74-year-old Patrick said that this book has been in the making for over a decade now and the idea for the story was first sparked when he was in university in the 1960s.
Patrick studied Latin and the Roman Empire in university in the UK and he said one of his first thoughts was, ‘why do the Romans never have a go at Ireland?’
And that’s what sparked his idea for his novel The Oak and the Eagles.
“Derry is the Gaelic for oak grove so the oak is meant to represent Derry, because it starts in, and is centred in, Derry and that area.
“The eagles are, of course, the Roman legions so it's a story about, on the one hand, this is what would have been seen by the Romans as a peripheral place. And the Chet, just after they invaded the eagles, the legions invaded what is now England and Wales and started into Scotland.
“So The Oak and the Eagles represents my imagination. Nobody knows about this. Nobody knows one way or the other. So that leaves me open to make it the way I want it to be.
“Where there is history, it's as accurate as I could possibly make it. It's grounded in archaeology, early sources, whether it's the Roman historian Tacitus or later in the medieval period when you do get Irish writers, you know, Irish records appearing. So it's strongly researched and it's serious, but it is a work of fiction”.
Patrick has spent a lot of time travelling between England and Portugal where the history there ignited his creative writing passion.
“We've got a house now in Portugal, we spend about half a year there. It gives us the opportunity to drive through Spain and other very interesting places. I've always had an interest in Romans and so on in that part of the world, Spain and Portugal; they've got an amazing amount of Roman remains that are very interesting and worth seeing”.
Patrick said that he was also inspired by a very interesting book by a man called Dr. John Keyes O' Doherty, who was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry.
“He wrote a very good book called Deriana and I think I remember reading it up in the old Brook Park Library and it sort of hooked me right down. So over many, many years, most of, like the oak seed, the acorn was to sort of gradually planting itself in my brain and grew”.
Patrick said that to have his book longlisted for the CAP Awards 2026 is very flattering and has given him a big boost.
“I must say, my morale shot up when I saw that it was longlisted for it.
“I'm in it because it keeps the old brain ticking over, and it's a great interest, and I'm enjoying it enormously. They say that when you get into your 70s, as I now am, if you don't keep your brain engaged, then it'll find its own way to disengage and so I'm not going to let that happen”.
Patrick said that there is a second book now and he is working on the third book in his Calgach Scela series.
He said he is planning on publishing the second book in September.
Patrick’s book The Oak and the Eagles, as well being longlisted for the CAP Award, has also had two very good independent reviews from the Historical Novels Society, and by a highly regarded American author behind the Midwest Book Review.