At the annual meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies held this month at University College Cork, the following authors were among those honored. BC Professor of English Philip O’Leary was awarded the 2018 Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture for An Underground Theatre: Major Playwrights in the Irish Language 1930–80 (University College Dublin Press). The book was cited as “an incredible contribution to scholarship on Irish theatre and the Irish language…and engagingly well written.” The award citation goes on to state: “In covering the works of five twentieth century playwrights writing in the Irish language, O’Leary offers detailed creation and production histories, right down to the specific theatres across the country that presented the plays under consideration. It is not an overstatement to say that this book will likely remain a resource for scholars and students of Irish language plays for decades if not centuries to come.” More about O’Leary’s book can be found in this BC Bookmarks post from 6-27-17. BC alumnus Hidetaka Hirota won the 2018 Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book for Expelling the Poor: Atlantic Seaboard States and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of American Immigration Policy (Oxford University Press). The award committee called Hirota’s book “deeply researched and carefully crafted.” The award citation goes on to state: “Hirota’s book is a model transatlantic study, skillfully tracking the experience of Irish migrants from their initial departure from Ireland to their expulsion from the United States to their post-deportation lives in Ireland and Britain. Expelling the Poor is destined to become required reading for historians of both Ireland and America, while also informing public discussions of immigration.” More about Expelling the Poor can be found in this BC Bookmarks post from 2-1-17.