The Westmeath-born poet and novelist Dermot Healy has received the 2002 Ireland Funds' literary award, worth €25,000.
Mr Healy, whose recent work includes The Bend for Home, a memoir, and The Reed Bed, a collection of poems, was presented with the bursary at a ceremony in UCD last night.
He was the choice of a selection committee chaired by Dr Seamus Heaney. This is the 31st year of the award. Previous winners include Austin Clarke, John Banville, John McGahern, John B. Keane, Eavan Boland and Edna O'Brien. The chairwoman of the American Ireland Fund, Ms Loretta Glucksman, praised Mr Healy as "a wonderful observer of nature and the human condition".
"His marvellous evocation of the natural, rugged beauty of Ireland's north-west is truly breathtaking," she said. The award was presented by the actor John Hurt, who described Mr Healy as "constantly and determinedly perceptive".
The chairman of the Ireland Funds, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, praised the winner for his "lambent insights" into life in Co Westmeath. Mr Healy's work represented "one of the finest examples of modern Irish writing".
The presentation was part of an evening celebrating the work of the Ireland Funds, which have reached the midway stage of a plan to raise $100 million by 2004, for projects promoting peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development North and South.