This award, supported by the Binchy/Snell family, commemorates Maeve Binchy, her love of travel and her world-celebrated creative writing. The Award, worth €4,000, is open to a UCD humanities student (undergraduate or postgraduate) and was inaugurated in 2014. Previous winners are Henrietta McKervey, John McHugh, Aaron O’Farrell, Ryan Murphy, Rosa Jones, Gráinne Daly, Sree Sen, Declan Toohey and Adriana Casserly.

Janet recently graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from UCD. Previously she ran the independent book and coffee shop Blessington Bookstore for over a decade and, before that, worked as an accountant in The Netherlands. The award will facilitate her research into the life of Nancy Corrigan who, aged six, saw a plane fly over the Achill bogland and said, ‘that is what I want to do.’ Emigrating to America at sixteen, Nancy flew solo at nineteen, financed her aviation career by becoming a model, and trained pilots in WW2. Janet’s novel, Petticoat Pilot, will be based on the true-life story of this remarkable Irishwoman.

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On her winning of the award, Janet commented: “For me, receiving the Maeve Binchy Travel Award is the gift of writing a second book. Financially it gives me the means to travel to the United States to research Nancy’s life, but equally importantly it gives me the confidence to keep writing. Maeve Binchy’s books have always inspired me, and it is an honour to receive the award set up in her name. My heartfelt gratitude to Gordon Snell for that, and for all the joy he and Maeve have brought to readers all over the world.”

Congratulating this year’s winner, Professor Margaret Kelleher, Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at UCD and chair of the selection committee, said: “This year is a very special one when we celebrate the tenth year of this wonderful award which marks the creative spirit and legacy of Maeve Binchy and is generously supported by Maeve’s husband Gordon, on behalf of her family. My warm thanks to judges Niall MacMonagle, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and James Ryan, and to project assistant Zoe Zavrotny. This award is designed to make possible a unique travel dream and Janet is a most deserving winner of the award; her plans to bring to life the remarkable story of pilot Nancy Corrigan are deeply exciting and we look forward greatly to following both of their trails.”

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“Maeve Binchy’s books have always inspired me, and it is an honour to receive the award set up in her name. My heartfelt gratitude to Gordon Snell for that, and for all the joy he and Maeve have brought to readers all over the world.”

Janet Hawkins

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