An "honoured and touched" Joseph O'Connor will tonight receive the Irish PEN Award in a ceremony to be held at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire. The award will be presented by President Michael D. Higgins, who will also receive honorary membership of Irish PEN.

The Irish PEN Award celebrates Irish born writers who have made outstanding contributions to Irish Literature. The winner is nominated and chosen by the members of the Irish PEN as well as by previous winners of the award, whose ranks include Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnston and Colm Tóibín.

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GHOST LIGHT, Joseph's most recent work, was published in 2010 and was chosen as Dublin's One Book, One City in April 2011. His next work, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?, will be published by Harvill Secker later this year.

Praise for Joseph O'Connor:

'[GHOST LIGHT] has an astonishing command of voice and period detail, and offers an intimacy with the lives of others which is rare in fiction.' -- Colm Tóibín

'This is a dream of a novel, beautifully written, the tragedy of a disappointed life wrapped in the chewy crust of indomitable humour...take GHOST LIGHT away somewhere quiet and listen to its music for yourself. You won't regret it.' -- Arminta Wallace, Irish Times