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 Uachtaráin, 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 “changing history by exchanging stories” in divided communities throughout the world. Its name reflects the fact that many Indo-European languages have the same word for “guest” and “enemy”—like the Latin hostis, which is the root word for both “hostility” and “hospitality”—and 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 Guestbook website, 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 Uachtaráin in Dublin.
Higgins’ work as a person, poet, and president was an exemplar of such narrative hospitality, said Kearney: “In 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—giving voice to the voiceless again and again.
“It 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.”
Higgins joins a distinguished list of past recipients, including Boston-area Irish music broadcaster and organizer Brian O’Donovan, 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’s newest book, Hosting Earth: Facing the Climate Emergency, co-edited by Kearney in collaboration with Boston College alumni, Peter Klapes ’19, M.A. ’22 and Urwa Hameed ’22, a current BC Law student.