HUBERT BUTLER COMES HOME

“Following our partnership with HEART London in 2020, Kilkenny Arts Festival is honoured to become the ‘home’ of the Hubert Butler Essay Prize from 2021 – we are grateful to Butler’s family, Julia and Dick Crampton, Jeremy O’Sullivan and the prize panel, chaired by Roy Foster, for their support in securing the future of the prize.  

“This prize is an affirmation of Hubert Butler’s life and work - his legacy continues to grow and inspire others. His clarity of purpose and commitment to the principals of universal humanity is as urgent now as ever.  There could be no better way of celebrating him in his home city than supporting a new generation of essayists at a time when the intrinsic links between the personal, local and global couldn’t be more apparent.” Olga Barry, Festival Director, Kilkenny Arts Festival