HOTEL LUX by Maurice Casey shortlisted for The Michel Déon Prize

Maurice Casey’s brilliant HOTEL LUX: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals (Footnote Press/Bonnier) has been shortlisted along with five other titles for the 2026 Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction.

The Royal Irish Academy in association with the Department of Foreign Affairs announced the six shortlisted titles on 3 July. The prize of €10,000, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, will be awarded in October 2026 to the author of the best non-fiction book by a writer habitually living on the island of Ireland. The winning author will deliver the ‘Michel Déon Lecture’ in France in 2027. To reflect the work and interests of the French writer Michel Déon, the eligible categories for the prize were – autobiography, biography, cultural studies, history, literary studies, philosophy, travel.

The prize ceremony will be on the 1 October. For more info, see the Royal Irish Academy website.