- Michael D. Higgins has published a significant body of literary works including five poetry collections and several collections of essays and speeches on arts and politics
- Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Michael D. Higgins at the annual An Post Irish Book Awards ceremony in Dublin on 27th November
- Michael D. Higgins joins a host of distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award recipients including Martin Waddell, Professor Roy Foster, Anne Enright, Sebastian Barry, Maeve Binchy, Colm Tóibín, Eavan Boland, Edna O’Brien and Seamus Heaney
The An Post Irish Book Awards is delighted to announce that former President, Michael D. Higgins, is the recipient of this year’s ‘Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award’. The award will be presented on the 27th November at the 2025 Awards Ceremony in The Convention Centre, Dublin.
As the 2025 Lifetime Achievement honouree, Michael D. Higgins will join a host of other distinguished recipients including Sebastian Barry, Colm Tóibín, Thomas Kinsella, Eavan Boland, John Montague JP Donleavy, Paul Durcan, John Banville, Maeve Binchy, John McGahern, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor, Seamus Heaney, Anne Enright and Professor Roy Foster. All previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award can be found at https://www.irishbookawards.ie/history/hall-of-fame/
Michael D. Higgins has had a profound impact on Irish art and culture, both as a public figure and as an artist in his own right. Throughout his distinguished career, his influence has spanned the full cultural spectrum - from literature and visual arts to film, music, and public cultural policy.
An accomplished writer, Michael D. Higgins has published five poetry collections, including Against All Certainty (2025), which was published in September in conjunction with his spoken word album of the same name in collaboration with musician Myles O’Reilly, New and Selected Poems (2011), An Arid Season (2004), The Season of Fire (1993) and The Betrayal (1990), along with several acclaimed volumes of essays such as Causes for Concern – Irish Politics, Culture and Society (2006), Renewing the Republic (2011), When Ideas Matter: Speeches for an Ethical Republic (2016) and Reclaiming the European Street (2021).
These works reflect his lifelong commitment to creativity, social justice, and human rights. From 1983 to 1993, Higgins also contributed a fortnightly column to Hot Press, Ireland’s leading music and politics magazine, where he wrote passionately on issues including apartheid, U.S. foreign policy, and Irish social reform. A book bringing together a collection of these columns, Power to the People: The Hot Press Years (2024), was published last year.
Higgins has also published three collections of speeches from the period covered by the Decade of Commemorations - 1916 Centenary Commemorations and Celebrations: Speeches by President Michael D. Higgins (2018) and Machnamh 100: Centenary Reflections volume 1 (2021) and volume 2 (2023).
A visionary policymaker, Higgins has reshaped Ireland’s cultural landscape through landmark achievements including the reestablishment of the Irish Film Board, the founding of Teilifís na Gaeilge (now TG4), the establishment of a rich network of local arts and cultural venues which brought a crucial access to citizens across Ireland and his leadership in promoting support for cultural institutions and artists across Europe. Having presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Seamus Heaney in 2011, Michael D. Higgins will now be honoured in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Irish cultural life.
In conferring the award, the Board of the Irish Book Awards stated:
“Both politically and personally, Michael D. Higgins has exerted a profound and lasting influence on Irish art and culture. His stalwart championing of Irish writers has been a particular source of inspiration to many who have participated in the An Post Irish Book Awards over the years and Irish creatives in general have felt a real sense of comfort in having a poet in The Áras.
Throughout his long and distinguished career, Higgins has combined his creative vision with courageous public engagement. From his columns in Hot Press addressing pressing social and political issues, to his landmark cultural policies, he has consistently championed the arts and strengthened Ireland’s cultural institutions. His commitment to human rights, social justice, and the nurturing of Irish creativity has left an indelible mark on our nation.
Having presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Seamus Heaney in 2011, it is a particularly fitting moment that we now confer this honour upon Higgins himself. The Board of the An Post Irish Book Awards is proud to recognise his outstanding contribution to Irish cultural life, and we look forward to celebrating his achievements at the 2025 Awards ceremony at the Convention Centre Dublin on 27 November."
Larry Mac Hale, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, says:
"Michael D. Higgins has consistently demonstrated the power of culture to connect, challenge, and inspire society. Through his engagement with the arts and his unwavering support for creative voices across Ireland, he has nurtured an environment where ideas, imagination, and expression can thrive. His leadership has ensured that the arts remain a central part of national life, valued not only for their beauty but for their capacity to shape how we see the world.
The An Post Irish Book Awards is proud to honour Michael D. Higgins with the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising a lifetime devoted to fostering creativity, cultural dialogue, and artistic excellence. This award celebrates a figure whose vision, commitment, and advocacy have left an enduring imprint on Irish cultural life, and whose influence will continue to inspire generations of writers, artists, and audiences alike."
Celebrating its 20th year, the An Post Irish Book Awards continue to champion and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible. Each year, the An Post Irish Book Awards bring together a vast community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the very best of new and established Irish writing talent. The winners will be announced on 27th November 2025.
Other categories include:
• Eason Novel of the Year
• TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year
• Dubray Biography of the Year
• Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year
• Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year
• Eason Novel of the Year
• Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year
• Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year
• Eason Sports Book of the Year
• Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana
• Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior
• Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior
• International Education Services Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year, in honour of John Treacy
• The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year in association with the Irish Independent
• Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
• WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM
• The Last Word Listeners’ Choice Award
• New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with the Irish Independent
• New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with the Irish Independent
• An Post Bookshop of the Year
A one-hour television special, hosted by Oliver Callan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on 11th December, giving viewers an exclusive insight into the six books and the authors competing for the accolade of ‘An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2025’, culminating in the reveal of this year’s overall winner.
Photo credit: Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times
