Joseph O’Connor and Caitríona Fottrell (CEO of the American Ireland Fund)
We are thrilled to announce that Joseph O’Connor has been awarded the 2022 AWB Vincent American Ireland Fund Literary Award.
The AWB Vincent American Ireland Fund Literary Award is one of Ireland’s most illustrious literary prizes, with past recipients of the award including Seamus Heaney, Edna O’Brien, Michael Longley, William Trevor, Colm Toibin and Eavan Boland. It is given each year to a ‘promising or established writer in Ireland who best reflects the great Irish literary tradition’ and is named in honour of Mr. AWB Vincent who was one of the founders of the American Ireland Fund and who initiated the award in 1972. The winner receives a cash prize of $25,000 and this year’s prize was presented at a private reception in Killarney, County Kerry on 16 June 2022 during the annual Worldwide Ireland Funds conference.
Caitriona Fottrell, President and CEO of The Ireland Funds, said: ‘We would like to congratulate Joseph O’Connor on his significant contribution to the Irish and international literary landscapes. This award is truly deserved and is a testament to Joseph’s talent, creativity, and hard work. He now shares The Ireland Funds AWB Vincent Literary Award with some of the titans of Irish literature.’
Joseph O’Connor said: ‘Forty years ago, at the age of 17, inspired by many of the great writers who have received this award, I began to write fiction and to dream I might one day have a novel published. To be now invited into a group that includes the lighthouses of my early teens, is a humbling honour and a blessing. I am profoundly grateful to The Ireland Funds for this extraordinarily generous act of support and for all it has done, and continues to do, for the arts, culture, and education in Ireland.’
Joseph O’Connor is the author of many novels, collections of short stories, and bestselling works of non-fiction. He has also written film scripts and radio and stage-plays. STAR OF THE SEA (2002) was an international bestseller, selling more than a million copies and being published in 38 languages. His most recent novel, SHADOWPLAY (2019), has won him extraordinary praise and won Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, The Dalkey Novel Prize and the Costa Novel Prize, among others. The French edition was shortlisted for the Jean Monnet Prize and the Vintage paperback was a Richard and Judy Winter 2020 pick. Joseph’s upcoming novel, MY FATHER’S HOUSE, will be published in January 2023.
The Ireland Funds is a global philanthropic network established in 1976 to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development throughout the island of Ireland, and Irish-related causes around the world. With chapters in 12 countries, The Ireland Funds has raised over $600 million for deserving causes in Ireland and beyond, benefiting more than 3,200 different organisations with both financial and non-financial support.
Praise for Joseph O’Connor:
‘A masterful storyteller.’ — Neel Mukherjee, The Times
‘Joseph O'Connor has the magic touch, he brings whole eras alive.’ — Colum McCann
‘A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling.’ — Sir Bob Geldof
'Like Joyce, O'Connor combines his panoramic range with a close eye to the grain and texture of the phrase ... An astonishingly accomplished writer.' — Terry Eagleton, The Guardian
‘Ireland’s greatest storyteller.’ — The Sunday Independent
‘One of the best writers working today.’ — Alice Walker
About Joseph O’Connor
Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin, where he still lives. He holds an honorary Doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin and received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2012. He is the inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.
Visit Joseph O’Connor’s website