Eilís Ní Dhuibhne has been honoured with the Irish Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish literature. Previous recipients of the award included Frank McGuinness, Edna O'Brien, Brian Friel and Seamus Heaney.

Eilís began publishing short stories in 'New Irish Writing', in the Irish Press, while an undergraduate student in UCD.  She has published more than twenty-five books, including novels, short story collections and fiction for young people.  Among her books are The Dancers Dancing, The Bray House, The Shelter of Neighbours, and Cailíní Beaga Ghleann na mBláth.  Caroline Walsh, former literary editor of the Irish Times, considered The Pale Gold of Alaska to be ‘one of the great short story collections of our time’. Eilis has received many literary awards, The Stewart Parker Award for Drama, The Bisto Book of the Year Award, The Butler Award for Prose, and several Oireachtas Awards for Irish language novels. She has also been short listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

In addition to being a writer of fiction, Eilís is a distinguished critic and folklore scholar and has published a notable body of scholarly and critical work.