Six books on the Michel Déon Prize shortlist have been announced
The six books on the shortlist for the prestigious Michel Déon Prize 2024 have been announced, with titles nominated by both the public and the publishing community. The judging panel chose from eligible titles, looking for originality, quality of writing and contribution to knowledge and/or public debate.
The eligible categories for the prize were: autobiography; biography; cultural studies; history; literary studies; philosophy, and travel. Authors of any nationality normally resident on the island of Ireland at the time of nomination who had published a non-fiction book in the period 12 April 2022 to 8 April 2024 were eligible.
THE SHORTLIST
All Down Darkness Wide by Seán Hewitt (Penguin Random House)
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding by Eoghan Daltun (Hachette Books Ireland)
Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O’Hara by Vona Groarke (New York University Press)
Landscape Design and Revolution in Ireland and the United States, 1688–1815 by Finola O’Kane (Yale University Press)
Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World by Jane Ohlmeyer (Oxford University Press)
The Celestial Realm by Molly Hennigan (Eriu)
The inaugural prize in 2018 was presented to historian Breandán MacSuibhne for his book The End of Outrage: Post-Famine Adjustment in Rural Ireland. In 2020 journalist Conor O’Clery won the award with The Shoemaker and his Daughter, and the most recent winner in 2022 was journalist Sally Hayden for her book My Fourth Time, We Drowned.
Michel Déon (1919 –2016) is considered to have been one of the leading French writers of the 20th century, who made Ireland his home in the 1970s until his death in 2016. He published over fifty works of fiction and non-fiction and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié for his 1970 novel, Les Poneys sauvages (The Wild Ponies). Déon’s 1973 novel Un taxi mauve (A Purple Taxi) received the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française and in 1978 he was elected to the Académie française.
Professor Hastings Donnan, Chair of the judging panel said that this year saw a large number of nominations: “The originality and depth of non-fiction writing in Ireland at present is evident in the outstanding quality of the titles on the Michel Déon Prize shortlist.”
The €10,000 prize for the winning author is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the winner will be announced at an award ceremony in October, with the winning author giving The Michel Déon Lecture in France in 2025.
