^{The season of book prizes has arrived again. Every spring there seem to be more announcements of prizes for novels and nonfiction books that have been published during the preceeding year. The process of choosing the winners has become familiar. First judges release a “longlist” of books deemed worthy of being candidates; then a few weeks or months later a “short list” is published; the final award is usually announced at a ceremony when the the author of the winning book is announced. The Booker Awards set this pattern and it has been followed by a series of other organizations dedicated to publicizing books deemed the best in some specific category—translated books, children’s books, or those from specific areas—each of them has its own contest.}  

^{Not only do the prizes increase book sales, they can also affect the life and culture of a country and even encourage the use of a minority language that might otherwise fade away. Irish Gaelic is an example of a language which  seemed to be dying away, but has been revived in many parts of the country. And now Ireland has its own book prize that honors books written in either English or Gaelic.} 

^{St. Patrick’s Day seems an appropriate time to honor a woman who played a large part in supporting the development o literature in both languages that have affected the history and culture of Ireland—Lady Augusta Gregory.}    

^{Augusta Perasen, who later became Lady Gregory, wasn born into an Anglo Irish family on March 15, 1852. At that time, Ireland was slowly recovering from the Irish Potato Famine that had ravished the country starting in 1848. Thousands of peasants were thrown off the land they had cultivated, but never owned, when potatoes, their major source of food and income, was struck by a mysterious ailment. Many landlords evicted tenants from their homes when they  could no longer pay their rents, leaving them to seek new work in England, America, and Australia.}  

^{Augusta’s family was prosperous and did not suffer from the famine but they were sympathetic toward the Irish tenants and were interested in their language and culture. They supported land reform and education. Augusta was especially influenced by an Irish nurse who told her many stories and instilled in the child a respect for Irish culture and language.} 

^{At the age of 19, Augusta married a man thirty years her senior and became Lady Gregory. She lived the life of a prosperous aristocrat, travelled to many parts of the world with her husband, and began to write and publish poetry and travel journals. She and her husband had one son. As their son grew up, Augusta began writing stories and memoirs. The family maintained a home in London and met many writers and artists as they travelled back and forth between England and Ireland.}  

^{After the death of her husband in 1892, Augusta moved back to the family estate in Galway, spending less and less time in London. She began to identify more with the Ireland and its culture than with England.  She travelled back and forth between Dublin and Galway and gradually became an important figure in Irish literary circles. William Butler Yeats became a good friend and encouraged her interest in Irish literature.} 

^{In 1899, Lady Gregory helped found the Irish Literary Theater where some of the most important plays of the Irish Renaissance were produced. Her own plays were produced too, but they have faded with time and are no longer as popular as they once were. Lady Gregory is remembered mostly for the great influence she had in encouraging Irish poets, playwrights, and novelists. Her importance is demonstrated every year when the winners of the An Post Irish Book Awards and other book prizes are announced.}  

^{Celebrate prize books by reading! Libraries and bookstores are ready and waiting.}