The Royal Irish Academy (RIA), in association with the Department of Foreign Affairs, has announced the six shortlisted titles for the 2026 Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction.
The Michel Déon Prize of €10,000, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, will be awarded in October 2026 to the author of the best non-fiction book habitually living on the island of Ireland. The winning author will deliver the ‘Michel Déon Lecture’ in France in 2027.
Michel Déon Prize Shortlist
The six books on the shortlist for the 2026 Michel Déon Prize are:
- Dublin’s Stained Glass: A guide to the finest twentieth-century windows by David Caron (Four Courts Press)
- Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals by Maurice J Casey (Footnote Press)
- Land Is All That Matters: The Struggle That Shaped Irish History by Myles Dungan (Head of Zeus, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Monasticism in Ireland, AD 900-1250 by Edel Bhreathnach (Four Courts Press)
- Rory O’Connor: To Defend the Republic by Gerard Shannon (Irish Academic Press / Merrion Press)
- The Celtic World: a history by John Waddell (Four Courts Press)
Professor Hastings Donnan, Chair of the judging panel, commented: ‘We received a large number of nominations this year and the vibrancy of non-fiction writing in Ireland at present is clear from the outstanding quality of the titles on the Michel Déon shortlist.’
Professor Daniel Carey, President of the Royal Irish Academy, said: ‘We are delighted to announce this year’s shortlist, which showcases an exceptional range of voices and perspectives in Irish non-fiction writing. Being shortlisted for this highly competitive prize is a significant achievement; we congratulate the authors and commend their outstanding contribution to Ireland’s literary landscape.’
Competition Guidelines
Titles were nominated by both members of the public and the publishing community through the RIA’s website and the judging panel made their choice from the eligible titles. In shortlisting the titles, the judges were looking for originality, quality of writing and contribution to knowledge and/or public debate. To reflect the work and interests of the French writer Michel Déon, the eligible categories for the prize were – autobiography, biography, cultural studies, history, literary studies, philosophy, travel. Authors of any nationality habitually resident on the island of Ireland at the time of nomination who had published a non-fiction book between 9 April 2024 and 31 March 2026 were eligible. Full competition rules available at https://www.ria.ie/grants-awards/prizes/michel-deon-prize
Michel Déon (1919–2016) made Ireland his home in the 1970s until his death in 2016 and is widely regarded as one of the leading French writers of the 20th century. 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.
Photograph: Michel Déon (1919 –2016) photographed in Connemara, Ireland – February 1989: Photo by Ulf Andersen.
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