Notes and Queries, continued

255 COVER NOTES AND QUERIES, continued THE IACI ANNUAL AWARDS More than 150 people representing the arts and cultural community of Ireland attended the presentation of the IACI awards at the Mansion House in Dublin last November. The Irish American Cultural Institute, a USbased non-profit institute with headquarters in Morristown, NJ, has presented awards in support of Irish culture annually since 1967. US Ambassador to Ireland, Michael Sullivan, introduced the awards. The IACI/Butler Literary Award was established in 1967 and was the first significant award made available to writers in both English and the Irish language. This year’s IACI/Butler Literary Award for achievement in literature was awarded to Ní Dhuibhne was born in Dublin, educated at Scoil Bhride, Scoil Chaitriona, University College Dublin, and the University of Copenhagen. She began writing as a student, publishing short stories in “New Irish Writing” (Irish Press) from 1974 onward. Her first book, a collection of short stories, was published by Attic Press in 1988. Ní Dhuibhne has published in both Irish and English. Her books include Blood and Water (1988), The Bray House (1990), Eating Women is Not Recommended (1991), The Inland Ice (1997), The Dancers Dancing (1999), The Pale Gold of Alaska (2000), and Dumnharu sa Daingean (2000). She has also written plays and children’s books, working in Irish and English. Ní Dhuibhne is a folklore collector and lectures in folklore. She has worked as an archivist and librarian at UCD and at present is Assistant Keeper in the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Ireland. Previous literary awards include The Reader’s Association of Ireland Award (1996); Bisto Book of the Year Award (1996); Oireachtas Award for a Play (1998); and the Stewart Parker Drama Award (1998). In 2000, The Dancers Dancing was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. This year’s IACI/Butler Poetry Award was awarded to Ciaran Carson . Carson was born in 1948 in Belfast, where he attended Queen’s University . His books of poetry include The New Estate, The Irish for No, Belfast Confetti, First Language, Opera Et Cetera, The Alexandrine Plan, and The Twelfth of Never (published in Ireland by the Gallery Press, and in the US by Wake Forest University Press). 256 NOTES AND QUERIES Carson’s prose works include Last Night’s Fun, a memoir of Irish traditional music; The Star Factory, a memoir of Belfast; Fishing for Amber: A Long Story; and Shamrock Tea. Carson’s many awards include the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize, the T.S. Eliot Prize, and the Choice of the Poetry Book Society. Carson also plays the Irish traditional flute. The IACI Heritage Award, initially endowed by an anonymous donor in the West of Ireland was established in 1986. This award reflects a conviction that history shapes and informs our daily life and should be made accessible to all. The award recognizes work at the community level in Ireland. In recent years, major support from the Heritage Council as well as assistance from the Irish Tourist Board have enabled the IACI to increase the award to $5,000. The recipient this year is Waterford Treasures at the Granary. The IACI/O’Malley Art Award of $5,000 was presented to Alanna O’Kelly. This award is presented annually to recognize achievement in the visual arts, particularly that which has stimulated or guided other Irish artists. Renowned jazz musician Louis Stewart received the IACI/ESB Music Award presented to a musician with extraordinary talent and recognition abroad. Louis Stewart was born in Waterford, but Dublin has been his home for most of his life. He began playing piano at the age of seven, and guitar at fifteen. He won the Press Prize at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1968 and joined the Tubby Hayes Quartet in London in the autumn of that year. In 1969 he won the Grand Prix for best soloist at Montreux and was awarded a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He toured Europe three times with the Benny Goodman orchestra and returned to Ireland to write and play music for several television programs. An annual grant was given to the RDS to fund...