Fintan O’Toole: Irish Times columnist wins US journalism award for ‘incisive’ political commentary

Irish Times columnist and writer Fintan O’Toole has been awarded the 2024 Robert B Silvers prize for journalism.

The prestigious award is one of six Silvers-Dudley prizes bestowed by the Robert B Silvers Foundation – named after the founding editor of the New York Review of Books – that recognises outstanding achievement in literary criticism, arts writing, and journalism.

“Fintan O’Toole’s writing is characterised by incisive political commentary and wry, sometimes acerbic humour,” the judges said.

“It is backed by serious cultural and historical scholarship and a profound understanding of human foibles and frailties.”

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Mr O’Toole, an advising editor of The New York Review of Books, has previously won the Orwell Prize and the European Press Prize.

He is currently working on the official biography of Seamus Heaney. His most recent book is We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland.

“Robert Silvers was always for me a great touchstone of intellectual and journalistic excellence,” he said on hearing of his award.

“The standards he set and the values he embodied have never been more important to public life. Receiving an award in his name is both a profound honour and a daunting challenge.”

The third annual Silvers-Dudley awards for literary and arts journalism were judged by poet Ange Mlinko, writer Hari Kunzru and Harper’s magazine editor Christopher Carroll.

Other recipients included Marina Warner, professor of creative writing and English at the University of London; Jennifer Wilson, contributing writer at the New Yorker; Svetlana Alpers, professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley; poet Harmony Holiday; and journalist Krithika Varagur. The prizes have a total value of $135,000 (€124,000).

Foundation director Daniel Mendelsohn said: “In rewarding these six brilliant and original critics and journalists, we honor not only their work but Bob’s wish, as expressed in his will, to “support writers” – in this case, by spotlighting the critical and journalistic work being done by both established practitioners of the craft and by writers who [are] making their mark more recently.”

President Michael D Higgins congratulated Mr O’Toole on the award.

“No one in Ireland will be surprised at the recognition which has been given across the Atlantic of the work of Fintan O’Toole, through his award of the 2024 Robert B Silvers prize for journalism,” he said.

“As the judges have identified, Fintan’s political commentary and cultural and historical scholarship have been of the highest quality over a number of decades.”

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