RIA Literary Prize Extended

The announcement was made to coincide with the first visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Ireland today. Ireland and France will support enriched collaboration between the Académie française and the Royal Irish Academy, including the confirmation of joint funding of the Michel Déon Prize until 2025. 

The Michel Déon Prize was founded in 2018 in memory of the French writer Michel Déon (1919-2016) who made the West of Ireland his home. It is a joint prize awarded in alternate years by the Royal Irish Academy (funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs) in Ireland and the Académie Française in France. The winning author gets a prize of €10,000 and the honour of visiting the other country to deliver the Michel Déon Lecture the following year.

The purpose of the prize is:

- to honour the life of Michel Déon (1919-2016) by continuing his work in supporting and championing writing talent
- to sustain the legacy of Michel Déon in celebrating the richness and diversity of cultural experience in Europe

The Royal Irish Academy will next award the Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction in 2022. The prize will be awarded to the author of the book that the judging panel consider to be the best work of non-fiction published after 1 April 2020 in the eligible categories. In selecting the winner, the judging panel will be looking for: originality; quality of writing and contribution to knowledge and/or public debate. More information on the Michel Déon prize.

This prize is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs.