AWARD: Presidential Award for Joe Hassett

Joe Hassett was awarded the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service by President Michael D. Higgins in a ceremony on December 8 in the Aras an Uachtarain. Joe’s most recent book is Yeats Now: Echoing into Life (Lilliput Press).

Joseph M. Hassett is a  lawyer and literary scholar residing in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Canisius College and  Harvard Law School, holds a Ph.D. in Anglo-Irish Literature from University College Dublin, and was a visiting scholar at St. John’s College, Oxford. He also holds the degree Doctor of Literature (honoris causa) from University College Dublin.

The Presidential Service Award for the Irish Abroad was established in 2012, and is awarded annually to recognize the distinguished and sustained contribution to Ireland, Irish communities abroad and Ireland’s international reputation by people resident abroad. Foreign minister Coveney’s letter to Joe on behalf of President Higgins stated that, ‘Your contribution to the Irish cultural sphere as a distinguished author and scholar, having written extensively on Yeats, Joyce, and other Irish writers, has had a far reaching impact’.