Kiberd book on Irish classics garners Truman Capote Prize

Prof Declan Kiberd has won the Truman Capote Prize, the largest award of its kind for work by cultural and literary critics.

Mr Kiberd, Professor of Anglo-Irish studies in UCD, won the $50,000 prize for his latest book Irish Classics.

The book examines more than 40 English and Irish texts spanning over 400 years of writing. It begins with the fall of the bardic tradition after the Elizabethan and Cromwellian wars.

This is the second award for the book. Late last year Prof Kiberd won the Robert Rhodes Prize presented by the American committee for Irish Studies.

Prof Kiberd said he was delighted to receive the award.

"It is a great honour to win the prize and it will hopefully raise the profile of Irish-language authors like Seán Ó Ríordáin and Máirtín Ó Cadhain who don't have the same international profile of authors like Yeats and Joyce," he said.

His previous book, Inventing Ireland: the Literature of the Modern Nation, won the Irish Times Literature Prize.

The Truman Capote Prize has been awarded every year since 1994. Previous winners have been P.N. Furbank, Elaine Scarry and Helen Vender. The judging panel includes Frank Kermode, Henry Louis Gates and Richard Poirier.