Irish historian Tom Dunne has won the 18th Christopher Ewart-Biggs literary prize for his book Rebellions: Memoir, Memory and 1798, published by Lilliput Press.
The professor emeritus of history at University College Cork received his £5,000 prize at a reception in Belfast last night for his study of personal and historical memory, focusing on the 1798 rising in Wexford.
The former taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, received a special award.
Prof Dunne, a native of Carrigbyrne, Co Wexford, who grew up in New Ross, was highly praised for his work. He is a co-founder and co-editor of the Irish Review and is currently manager of the Cork University Press.
Prof Roy Foster, on behalf of the judges, said: "The choice was, as ever, a difficult one. But all the judges were struck by the combination of judiciousness, impartiality and intensity in Tom Dunne's book: a unique blend of memoir, cultural commentary and historical analysis," he said.
"It is a brave and eloquent attempt to confront the way we remember history in Ireland, and seemed to us an intellectual enterprise and achievement which completely fulfils the terms of this prize."
In announcing a special award for Dr FitzGerald, Prof Foster said:
"In a long and distinguished career as a top-flight politician and public intellectual, his judgment and integrity have been vindicated time and again: in his commitment to Europe, his belief in re-examining the assumptions behind a narrow conception of Irish nationalism, his insistence that changes in the Republic are an essential precondition of a closer relationship with Northern unionists, and his defence of integrity in public life."
The seven short-listed entries for the literary prize were Peace in Ireland by Richard Bourke; Rebellions by Tom Dunne; Armed Struggle by Richard English; The Transformation of Ireland by Diarmuid Ferriter; Himself Alone by Dean Godson; David Trimble by Frank Millar, London Editor of The Irish Times; and Swallowing the Sun by David Park.