2017 International DUBLIN Literary Award announced
#DubLitAward
42 American novels are among 147 titles that have been nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International DUBLIN Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. Nominations include 43 novels in translation with works by 23 British, 15 Canadian, 10 Australian, 7 Irish, 6 New Zealander and 4 Dutch authors.
Organised by Dublin City Council, the 2017 Award was launched today [21st November] by Lord Mayor, Brendan Carr, Patron of the Award, who praised the International DUBLIN Literary Award for its promotion of excellence in world literature as well as for the opportunity to promote Irish writing internationally. “Like every year”, he said, “readers will find new books and new authors through the Award, and they can pit themselves against the international panel of judges and pick their own favourite novel, before I announce the winner on 21st June next year.”
There have been three American winners of the Award to date. Edward P. Jones was awarded the prize in 2005 for his novel The Known World, Michael Thomas in 2009 for Man Gone Down and in June 2016, Akhil Sharma received the prize for Family Life.
Library systems in 23 cities throughout the USA were among the libraries in 40 countries worldwide who nominated books for the 2017 longlist.
The American titles include:
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
The 2017 Judging Panel comprises Chris Morash, Seamus Heaney Prof of Irish Writing and Vice Provost of Trinity College Dublin; Ellah Allfrey, OBE critic, broadcaster and editor; Katy Derbyshire, translator, critic and essayist; Kapka Kassabova, poet, novelist and writer and Jaume Subirana, writer, critic and translator. The non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan (USA).
The International DUBLIN Literary Award (formerly known as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award) is managed by Dublin City Council’s library service. Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian, announced that the 147 books eligible for the 2017 award were nominated by libraries in 109 cities and 40 countries worldwide; noting that 43 are titles in translation, spanning 19 languages and 30 are first novels.
Speaking of the global interest in the Award, the City Librarian remarked “This great prize demonstrates Dublin’s international support for contemporary writers and gives tangible expression to Dublin as A City of Words, an active member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, a UNESCO City of Literature. It also brings readers together in an unparalleled international book club connected through their local public libraries”.
Other novels nominated for the 2017 Award include A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, winner of the 2015 Costa Prize; Hope Farm by Peggy Frew, Salt Creek by Lucy Treleor and The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood, finalists for the 2016 Miles Franklin Award.
Among the 43 translated books are novels originally published in Arabic, Bulgarian, Icelandic, Kannada, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Slovene and Turkish. Translated authors include Milan Kundera, Mia Couto and Isabel Allende. As in previous years, translated titles comprise almost one third of the longlist – 29%.
The book that received most nominations this year is Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins, chosen by 9 libraries in Australia, Canada, England, Greece, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Spain.
The shortlist will be published on 11th April 2017 and the Lord Mayor will announce the winner on 21st June.
The International DUBLIN Literary Award is a Dublin City Council initiative.
For further information: Dublin City Council Media Relations, 01 222 2106
Notes for Editors:
The award promotes Dublin internationally as a literary destination, as Juan Pablo Villalobos (2016 judging panel) remarked “Dublin is a very literary city and for me as a Mexican writer I was very, very happy to be invited to be a judge because it’s the city of Samuel Beckett, one of my literary heroes, and of James Joyce of course. Obviously world wide Dublin is known as a literary city and I think that this prize is becoming every year more and more important.”
The International DUBLIN Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English. Nominations are made by library systems in major cities throughout the world. Established in 1994 in partnership with the company IMPAC, the Award is now wholly funded by Dublin City Council. The Award aims to promote excellence in world literature. Designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010, Dublin’s literary heritage is a significant driver of cultural tourism for the City.
Full list of American novels on the 2017 Longlist:
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
Purity by Jonathan Franzen
The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
The Making of Zombie Wars by Aleksandar Hemon
Black River by S.M. Hulse
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Where All Light Tends To Go by David Joy
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Girl at War by Sara Nović
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Orhan’s Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash
The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard
The English Spy by Daniel Silva
Golden Age by Jane Smiley
The Last Flight of Poxl West by Daniel Torday
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant
Aquarium by David Vann
The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann
My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Eighty Days of Sunlight by Robert Yune
Participating Libraries in the USA – 23 cities
Chicago Chicago Public Library
Cincinnati The Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County
Cleveland Cleveland Public Library
Colorado Springs Pikes Peak Library District
Columbia Richland Library
Concord New Hampshire State Library
Denver Denver Public Library
Hartford Hartford Public Library
Houston Houston Public Library
Jacksonville Jacksonville Public Library
Los Angeles Los Angeles Public Library
Miami Miami-Dade Public Library System
Milwaukee Milwaukee Public Library
New York New York Public Library
Oklahoma City Oklahoma Department of Libraries
Philadelphia Free Library of Philadelphia
Pittsburgh Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Portland Multnomah County Library
Richmond City of Richmond Public Library
San Diego San Diego Public Library
Seattle The Seattle Public Library
Springfield Lincoln Library
Tallahassee LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System