The Dalkey Book Festival, in conjunction with Zurich Insurance, has launched the Dalkey Literary Awards – a significant new awards programme for writers in Ireland that boasts a total prize fund of €30,000 - the largest award specifically for Irish writing.
"We understand how difficult it is financially for writers," says Dalkey Book Festival Director Sian Smyth, "and we hope that this award will serve to provide some financial stability to our most creative minds. These awards are something the festival has always wanted to do and we are delighted now we are in this position."
It's out there now - I'm genuinely honoured to be chairing the judging panel of the 'Emerging Writer’ category of the inaugural #DalkeyLiteraryAwards taking place at the @dalkeybookfest this June.
— Rick O'Shea (@rickoshea) February 8, 2020
The awards have an overall prize fund of €30,000...https://t.co/Q5A77euCAr pic.twitter.com/UlGcWodISH
The new awards, to be held annually, will recognise writers in two categories: Novel of the Year and Emerging Writer. Writers resident or born in Ireland and published in Ireland or the UK in 2019 will be recognised by the awards. The winner of the Novel of the Year will walk away with €20,000, whilst the writer named Emerging Writer will receive €10,000. The Emerging writer winner will also earn a spot at the Dalkey Book Festival on Sunday 21st June, appearing on stage alongside the three judges of that award with the chance to talk about their work and what winning the award means to them.
The judging panel for each category comprises critics, writers and public figures within the Irish literary scene, including RTE's Rick O’Shea, Fiach Mac Conghail, Caoilinn Hughes, Andrea Catherwood, and Jennifer O’Connell.
Since 2010, the Dalkey Book Festival has been celebrating literature, theatre, film and comedy as well as ideas, exploring the worlds of science, technology, current affairs, new politics and global trends, firmly establishing itself as a popular highlight of the Irish literary festival calender.
The Dalkey Book Festival will take place from 18th - 21st June 2020 - for more information about the awards, go here.
