Michele Roys announced as 2026 International Impact Book Award winner

Michele Roys announced as 2026 International Impact Book Award winner

Local author Michele Roys has been announced as a 2026 International Impact Book Award winner in the Health – Chronic Pain category for her memoir

By Editor Cian Reinhardt

Local author Michele Roys has been announced as the Health – Chronic Pain category winner for the 2026 International Impact Book Awards for her memoir, But You Look Just Fine. The author believes that one of the biggest impacts the memoir has had is letting people know “that they’re not alone in this journey”.

But You Look Just Fine tells Michele’s deeply personal story of living with Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN)—a condition so painful it’s known as the “suicide disease”—alongside fibromyalgia and Lyme disease. Michele’s memoir not only documents her struggle through excruciating, invisible pain but also highlights her journey toward rediscovering joy, self-worth, and purpose.

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The International Impact Book Award is a prestigious global platform dedicated to recognising, celebrating, and elevating exceptional authors and the powerful stories they bring into the world.

Michele told I Love Limerick that winning the award was “humbling”, coming from a memoir written “from the depths of my despair”. She said, “From losing everything that I have, of what I thought I was, who I thought I was, and being such overwhelming pain, and then having that glimpse of being able to write a story, my story, to share with someone else that needed to feel seen really did propel me forward.”

She explains how she went from almost not writing the memoir, to now being an award winner. Michele said, “So winning this award, recognising that I almost did not even write the book because, you know, it was opening up my own story and being very vulnerable, very raw, very honest about how challenging it can be to be living with an invisibleness.

“So winning this award means so much to me. It’s just encouraging the fact that it’s an important subject to raise awareness, to talk about so that others can feel seen in it.”

Advocacy plays an important role in Michele’s work, which is also shared through The Michele Roys Show podcast, and as well as the award recognition, Michele’s story has touched audiences all over.

Michele explained she sees the impact the memoir has had through the reviews, comments, and emails she receives.

 ”I think the impact for them is that they feel seen,” Michele explained, adding, “That somebody’s been brave to show others what it actually feels like, and I’ve had people reach out telling me that it helped them explain better what they’re going through.”

Roys explained how she feels her work has allowed many people to be seen and be heard and she believes it gives people the strength to “keep going”.

She said, “The impact of being open and honest about our personal lives and allowing others to see a glimpse of that, even though they’re facing those struggles, they just know that they’re not alone.

“ So I think that one of the biggest impact is that knowing that they’re not alone in this journey.”

The most important aspect of Roys’ work is the advocacy and highlighting chronic pain, saying that side of her work “is everything”.

Michele said, “It gives me the strength to keep going, to turn my pain into purpose, and knowing that God can use all our brokenness if we give it to him. You know, I’m a really strong believer, and if I didn’t have that strength to keep going, I don’t know where I would be, to be honest with you.”

She explained that living with trigeminal neuralgia, often considered the “worst pain known to medicine”, as well as living with fibromyalgia and chronic Lyme, is “a lot to deal with”.

“The advocacy work, the shining a light on invisible illness, and the fact that I look just fine, and so many people are in the same situation. They look perfectly fine, and yet they’re carrying a huge amount of load that nobody sees.”

She said that opening the conversation through her memoir and podcast, has helped combat the stigma, she said, “So for me, opening up the conversation, letting people feel seen, letting people know that they’re not alone, and letting us also getting away from that stigma of, ‘Oh, it’s all in your head,’ or, ‘Are you sure you’re still sick because you look fine?’

“I’m just trying to show, actually, people can look perfectly fine and actually really be struggling. So we need to walk with kindness, awareness, and really be more mindful of others, because we just never know what people are going through.”