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Last year saw Sally Hayden’s essential and urgent My Fourth Time We Drowned take the ultimate Prize of An Post Book of the Year. In what has been described as ‘The most important work of contemporary reporting I have ever read’ by Sally Rooney, and ‘Journalism of the most urgent kind’- by the Financial Times, Hayden charts the stories of those trying to cross from North Africa to Europe. Surveying the negligence of NGOs and corruption within the United Nations, as well as the human story behind this neglect, Sally gives a mouthpiece to those who didn’t have the means to tell their story.
In what feels like a continued testament to Hayden’s work giving the refugees she rigorously reported on and spoke to a platform, An Post have launched a new Prize in recognition of the number of Ukrainian refugees Ireland has welcomed into their country. This extraordinary new category: New Voices: the An Post Writing Prize, is a new writing competition inviting the Irish-Ukrainian population to tell their tales.
When politics and media so often designate the stories and perceptions around refugees, The An Post Irish Book Awards are interested in the individual behind the blanket term, ‘refugee’. By encouraging a range of stories and perspectives from the Ukrainian people who have taken refuge in Ireland, we hope that many of our new citizens will encounter a sense of recognition, representation, and diversity of experience in a world that so often fails to acknowledge them.
As we ask entrants to compose an essay or poem describing their experiences of flight and exile in no more than 1,000 words, the stories pouring in are sources of inspiration and hope. The utmost resilience and strength can be felt in the words of those who left everything behind, who chose life in the face of extreme adversity. While recounting these stories may be painful, we hope they can also be healing and cathartic. In the sharing of prose, we hope all entrants may find a sentiment of collective understanding and solidarity and, above all, the chance to reclaim their narrative.
Today is the last chance to get your entries in - find out more here. The shortlist of six will be adjudicated by a panel of Ukrainian judges and the winner will be announced at the An Post Irish Book Awards Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin on November 22nd.