Outgoing Irish president receives Guestbook Project Award
honoring Michael D. Higgins' commitment to peace and reconciliation
Charles Seelig Professor of Philosophy Richard Kearney has presented outgoing Irish President Michael D. Higgins with the Guestbook Project Award for Narrative Hospitality in recognition of his lifelong commitment to peace, reconciliation, and giving voice to the marginalized through poetry, prose, and statesmanship.
The award ceremony took place on September 26 in Dublin at Aras an Uachtar谩in, the official residence for the Irish president.
Founded in 2009 by Kearney and Associate Professor of Studio Arts Sheila Gallagher, the Guestbook Project is an international nonprofit committed to the practice of 鈥渃hanging history by exchanging stories鈥� in divided communities throughout the world. Its name reflects the fact that many Indo-European languages have the same word for 鈥済uest鈥� and 鈥渆nemy鈥濃�攍ike the Latin hostis, which is the root word for both 鈥渉ostility鈥� and 鈥渉ospitality鈥濃�攁nd the belief that a courageous exchange of stories can turn hostility into hospitality.
Over the last 15 years of its existence, the project has engaged young people from Boston College and such places as Northern Ireland, South Africa, Croatia, the Middle East, and the United States-Mexican border, in using digital storytelling to connect with strangers and adversaries. More than 100 video stories are available on the , and the project has organized a dozen international conferences and published five books.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins with Seelig Professor Richard Kearney at Aras an Uachtar谩in in Dublin.
Higgins鈥� work as a person, poet, and president was an exemplar of such narrative hospitality, said Kearney: 鈥淚n addition to his pioneering peace work as a national and international statesman, Michael D. Higgins has also authored many important books of prose and poetry exploring the ways in which we host strangers and outsiders鈥攇iving voice to the voiceless again and again.
鈥淚t was a huge honor to give him this award before he steps down as president in October after 14 years in the presidency, where he showed extraordinary moral imagination, spiritual courage, and intellectual leadership. His was a presidency of ideas. He thought in prose and governed in poetry.鈥�
Higgins joins a 男女操逼视频软件 list of past recipients, including Boston-area Irish music broadcaster and organizer Brian O鈥橠onovan, novelist and Narrative 4 founder Colum McCann, and author and former United Nations High Commissioner Mary Robinson. As part of the ceremony, Kearney also presented Higgins with a signed copy of the Guestbook Project鈥檚 newest book, Hosting Earth: Facing the Climate Emergency, co-edited by Kearney in collaboration with Boston College alumni, Peter Klapes 鈥�19, M.A. 鈥�22 and Urwa Hameed 鈥�22, a current 男女操逼视频软件 Law student.
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