Congratulations to CSAMES Director Dr. Eric Calderwood for being awarded the 2026 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies for his book “On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus.” The prize is awarded to a work that transcends focus | Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

April 15, 2026

Congratulations to CSAMES Director Dr. Eric Calderwood for being awarded the 2026 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies for his book “On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus.” The prize is awarded to a work that transcends focus on a single country, state, or people and inspires new ways of thinking about contemporary Europe.

A jury comprising distinguished scholars praised Dr. Calderwood’s work for setting a “new standard for interpreting the ongoing relevance of our foundational political and cultural histories.”

The Nanovic Institute for European Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, has awarded the 2026 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies to Eric Calderwood, professor of comparative and world literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for his book “On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus,” published by Harvard University Press.

The Laura Shannon Prize is a preeminent prize within the field of European studies. It is awarded each year to the book that best transcends a focus on any one country, state or people, stimulating new ways of thinking about contemporary Europe as a whole. This year’s award cycle considered books in the humanities published in 2024 and 2025.