‘I couldn’t write same book twice and I wouldn’t want to’

William Wall is the only European winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in America, which he garnered for his latest book ‘The Islands’. Sue Leonard catches up with him

WILLIAM WALL is no stranger to literary prizes. He’s won many, including the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, the Virginia Faulkner Award and the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize. But winning the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in America for his latest collection of stories has been a particular pleasure for the 61-year-old writer from Cork.

For one thing, he’s the first European ever to have won the $15,000 (€13,799) prize, which was first awarded in 1981. For another, it will get his name back in prominence on the other side of the Atlantic.