#DUBLITAWARD
44 American novels are among 160 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 53 novels in translation with works by 25 British, 10 Canadian, 10 Australian, 7 Irish, 6 German and 3 South African authors.
Organised by Dublin City Council, the 2016 Award was launched today [9th November] by The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, Patron of the Award, who commented “the Award, now in its 21st year, has made a fantastic contribution to the literary life of Dublin and brings significant benefits to the City. It is right that, as the Award is now entirely a City initiative, sponsored by the City Council, it should be called the International DUBLIN Literary Award”.
There have been two American winners of the Award to date. Edward Jones was awarded the prize in 2005 for his novel The Known World and Michael Thomas in 2009 for Man Gone Down.
Library systems in 26 cities throughout the USA were among the libraries in 44 countries worldwide who nominated books for the 2016 longlist.
The American titles include:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
Orfeo by Richard Powers
(full list of American titles longlisted below)
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 160 books eligible for the 2016 award were nominated by libraries in 118 cities and 44 countries worldwide; noting that 53 are titles in translation, spanning 19 languages and 49 are first novels.
The 2016 Judging Panel comprises Irish writer Carlo Gebler; Ian Sansom, British novelist, critic and academic; Iglika Vassileva, Bulgarian translator; Australian novelist, Meaghan Delahunt and Mexican writer Juan Pablo Villalobos. The non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan (USA).
Speaking of the global interest in the Award, the City Librarian remarked “reading groups worldwide each year anticipate the longlist and later the shortlist with excitement and interest. This anticipation will reach fever pitch when The Lord Mayor announces the twenty-first winner on 9th June 2016. From previous experience we know that the 21st winning title will be top of the library readers list for 2016 at home and abroad bringing readers together in an unparalleled international book club”.
Other novels nominated for the 2016 Award include A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King, winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Fiction.
Among the 53 translated authors are German author Jenny Erpenbeck, winner of the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Javier Cercas (Spanish), Helle Helle (Danish), and Haruki Murakami (Japanese). For the second time, translated titles comprise one third of the longlist – 33%.
Two previous winners have also been nominated, 2006 winner Colm Tóibín and 2007 winner Per Petterson.
The book that received most nominations this year is Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See, chosen by 14 libraries in Canada, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands and the USA.
The shortlist will be published on 12thApril 2016 and the Lord Mayor will announce the winner on 9th June.
American titles on the longlist:
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Song of the Shank by Jeffery Renard Allen
Above the East China Sea by Sarah Bird
Life Drawing by Robin Black
Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by Dave Eggers
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
The Hollow Ground by Natalie S. Harnett
A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain by Adrianne Harun
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
Natchez Burning by Greg Iles
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Euphoria by Lily King
The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee
10:04 by Ben Lerner
All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
Invisible Beasts by Sharona Muir
The Luminous Heart of Jonah S. by Gina B. Nahai
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre
Orfeo by Richard Powers
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
Lock In by John Scalzi
Family Life by Akhil Sharma
The Heist by Daniel Silva
Some Luck by Jane Smiley
I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle
Small Blessings by Martha Woodroof
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
The Lobster Kings by Alexi Zentner
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The Night Watchman by Richard Zimler