Six authors on peace award shortlist

Six writers have been shortlisted for this year's Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.

The award was instituted in memory of the British ambassador to Ireland who was murdered by the IRA in 1976.

It is awarded to writers whose work promotes peace and reconciliation in Ireland, a greater understanding between the peoples of Britain and Ireland or closer co-operation between partners of the European community. Work eligible for this year's prize, of €5,000, was published in 2005 and 2006.

Sebastian Barry, who also won the prize in 1995, was nominated for his novel A Long, Long Way(Faber), while Kevin Myers' memoir Watching the Door(Lilliput) earned him a nomination.

Bryan Lynch for Pity for the Wicked (Duras Press), Brian Rowan for Paisley and the Provos(Brehon Press), Richard English for Irish Freedom(Pan Macmillan) and Charles Townshend for Easter 1916(Penguin) were also shortlisted for the prize.

Previous winners include Brian Keenan for An Evil Cradling, journalists David McKittrick and Mary Holland for their columns, and playwright Brian Friel for The Communication Cord.

Award judge Prof Roy Foster said the last two years had produced a rich list of works reflecting on the themes and issues with which the prize is concerned.

"In choosing a shortlist the judges had to reject with regret some brilliant entries," he said. "All these works illuminate aspects of Irish experience in a way that helps us both to understand the recent past and to appreciate what can be made of the present."

The other judges are Prof Paul Arthur, Catherine Freeman, Dr Maurice Hayes, Baroness O'Neill and Thomas Pakenham.