The Cavan-born author and playwright Tom MacIntyre was last night presented with the Ireland Funds' Literary Award.
Mr MacIntyre (70) received the £20,000 prize at a ceremony at UCD. Previous recipients include Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, Brian Friel, Edna O'Brien and Austin Clarke.
Mr MacIntyre has penned several volumes of poetry and short stories and a number of plays. He is best known for his 1983 drama The Great Hunger, adapted from the Kavanagh poem.
His first play, Eye Winker, Tom Tinker, in 1972, scrutinised republican attitudes to the escalation of sectarian conflict in late 1960s Belfast.
More recent works include the poetry anthology Fleur de Lit (1991) and The Word for Yes: New and Selected Stories (1992). Among his other key works are Find the Lady (1977), Rise Up Lovely Sweeney (1985) and Through the Bridewell Gates (1971).
Born in Cavan in 1931, Mr MacIntyre studied at UCD and taught English as Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, Ann Arbor in Michigan, and elsewhere in the United States.
He received the award from the poet Mr Seamus Heaney, a winner in 1973.
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