Winners Announced!

Every two years, to coincide with the International Flann O’Brien Society conference, the Society awards official prizes to the best article/book chapter and best single author or edited monograph on the writing, life, and reception of Brian O'Nolan published over a 2-year period.

The 6th Society Awards ceremony took place on Friday 30 June 2023 at the Restaurant Panoramic, at the closing dinner of the symposium Strange Atmospheres: VII International Flann O'Brien Conference.

Overlooking the city of Cluj-Napoca, conference co-organiser Ruben Borg read first the shortlisted nominees (as voted for by the members of the International Flann O’Brien Society) and then the winners (as decided by an impartial judge, appointed ad hoc from outside the Society), as well as the external judge's official remarks:

Best article/book chapter 2021-22

Maebh Long

'Plagiarism and the Politics of Friendship: Brian O'Nolan, Niall Sheridan, and Niall Montgomery'

in Flann O’Brien: Acting Out, 2022.

Judge's remarks:

Long’s compelling article dives into O’Nolan’s correspondence to interrogate the makeup of Myles na gCopaleen’s style and the murky line between collaborations and plagiarism for O’Nolan, Sheridan, and Montgomery as presented in O’Nolan’s most prolific authorial persona. The article is not only engagingly written (truly an enjoyable read) but it also complicates, in the best of ways, our understanding of each of these authors and their intertextual influence beyond Cruiskeen Lawn.

Best single author/edited monograph 2021-22

Paul Fagan and Dieter Fuchs (editors)

Flann O'Brien: Acting Out

Cork University Press, 2022

Judge's remarks:

Acting Out is an impressive feat of O’Nolan scholarship with its sheer range of 20(!) chapters dedicated to themes of performance and theatricality in the author’s body of work. This rich collection has a deep bench of scholars who examine O’Nolan’s authorial persona performances, the gamut of theatricality of his works, and the interplay of the transmedial and political networks he navigated. The quality and scope of this collection will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on O’Nolan-centered scholarship for years to come.

Congratulations to Maebh, Paul and Dieter!

The next society awards will be held at the 2025 International Flann O’Brien Conference!

Make sure to get your research on Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen/Brian O'Nolan published to be in with a shout to win - you can submit your articles to The Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies for peer review here.

Flann O'Brien Society Awards