PhD student Gráinne Daly has been announced as this year’s winner of the Maeve Binchy Travel Award.
The prize was founded in 2014 to commemorate Irish writer Maeve Binchy, an alumnus of University College Dublin. Any student, either undergraduate or postgraduate, from UCD’s College of Arts and Celtic Studies may apply for the award.
Winners receive a €4,000 bursary to travel to region specific to their creative writing research.
Ms Daly, a graduate from UCD’s department of English, Drama and Film, won the award for her proposal on “Reimagining the Monserratian Irish”.
She was presented with the coveted prize by Professor Margaret Kelleher, Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at UCD. Mr Gordon Snell, husband of the late Maeve Binchy, also congratulated the winner on the day.
Ms. Daly will be travelling to Mounserrat in the Caribbean using the bursary. The aspiring novelist will be researching the historical Irish links in the region. Namely, the rich history of Irish indentured servants who arrived to the island from the 17th century onwards.
Reporting via David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer @ UCD