Lisa McGee wins prestigious literary award for Derry Girls final series
The writer has been crowned the winner of the 28th Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize
Last updated 28th Feb 2024
Lisa McGee has been crowned the winner of the 28th Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize for the third series of the TV comedy drama ‘Derry Girls’.
The winner of the prize, worth £7,500, was announced yesterday (Tuesday) at a reception in the Irish Embassy, London, where the actor Adrian Dunbar presented the prize.
Accepting her award Lisa said :“Who could have imagined that a sitcom about four working class schoolgirls from Derry and one wee English fella would be the recipients of such a prestigious award?”
The award’s objectives are to recognize work that promotes and encourages peace and reconciliation in Ireland, a greater understanding between the peoples of Britain and Ireland, or closer co-operation between the partners of the European Community.
In her speech Lisa acknowledged Northern Ireland’s complicated past but reflected on how she wanted to show it was “so much more than the image that was so often reflected back at us.”
She said: “We were a place full of colour, character, and joy.
“We were generous people, and we are, in my opinion, the best storytellers in the world.
“All we wanted to do was put that on screen and we also wanted to make people laugh.”
The Emmy and Bafta award-winning show was first broadcast in 2018 and ran for three seasons before finishing in 2022.
Its final episode aired on 18 May and focused on Northern Ireland preparing to vote on the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
In her acceptance speech Lisa highlighted how Derry Girls is about “finding light in the darkness."
She said:” It was a privilege to write this show. It was a privilege to accept this award.
“It means the world to me and to the Derry Girls team.
“But more importantly, it’s something that has finally impressed my parents.”
Speaking for the Judges, Professor Roy Foster said: ‘In the end the Judges decided that ‘Derry Girls’ approached the underlying questions of prejudice, antagonism, cultural division and violence with unique humour, empathy and verve, illuminating the decision to endorse the Good Friday Agreement, and linking it to a generation coming of age at a moment of hope. This powerfully endorsed key objectives of the Prize, namely, to promote and encourage peace and reconciliation in Ireland, and a greater understanding between the peoples of Britain and Ireland.’
Other shortlisted entries for the prize were:
Huw Bennett Uncivil War: The British Army and the Troubles, 1966-1975 (Cambridge University Press)
Michael Magee, Close to Home (Hamish Hamilton)
Owen McCafferty, Agreement (Faber)
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, 5-part BBC2 TV series
Marilynn Richtarik, Getting to Good Friday: Literature and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press)
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