Winner of the Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction 2026

Photograph taken from the Irish Times, © Johnny Bambury

Four Courts Press author John Waddell was awarded the prestigious Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction 2026 for his book The Celtic World: A History. This was a joint award with Maurice J Casey for his book Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals.

The Michel Déon Prize was founded in 2018 in memory of the French writer Michel Déon (1919-2016) who made the West of Ireland his home. It is a joint prize awarded in alternate years by the Royal Irish Academy in Ireland (funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs) and the Académie française in France. The winning author receives a prize of €10,000 and the honour of visiting France or Ireland respectively to deliver the Michel Déon Lecture the following year.

Read all about The Celtic World: A history here.

Or take a look at John Waddell’s upcoming title here .