THE AWARD

At the heart of the Dublin Literary Award is a vast network of libraries; not just the network of Dublin City Libraries – who have happily been serving communities since 1884 – but libraries in cities big and small around the world.

Dublin Literary Award honours excellence in world literature since 1996. Presented annually, the Award is one of the most significant literature prizes in the world, worth €100,000 for a single work of international fiction written or a work of fiction translated into English. If the winning book is in English translation, the author receives €75,000 and the translator, €25,000.

Each year, a longlist is created from the books nominated  for the Award by invited public libraries in cities around the world; our esteemed panel of judges then face the monumental task of narrowing these titles down to a shortlist of no more than ten titles. From this shortlist of exceptional work, one winner is selected and announced in a ceremony as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin.

Since 2015, the Award has been sponsored solely by Dublin City Council; it is administered by Dublin City Libraries and kindly supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature

2023 Winner

2023

Translated by

Jo Heinrich

Nominated by Stadtbüchereien Düsseldorf

2023 SHORTLIST

Discover the 2023 Shortlist, featuring 6 books.

THE LIBRARIES

All Russia State Library for Foreign LiteratureBelgrade City LibraryBiblioteca Daniel Cosío VillegasBiblioteca de AndalucíaBiblioteca Nazionale di Napoli “Vittorio Emanuele IIIBiblioteca Pública Municipal do PortoBiblioteca Vila de GràciaBibliotheca AlexandrinaBibliothèque de QuébecBibliothèque Municipale de ReimsBibliothèques municipales de GenèveBoston Public LibraryBucheon City LibraryCamara Municipal de Lisboa / Divisão da Rede de BibliotecasCarnegie Library of PittsburghChicago Public LibraryChristchurch City LibrariesCity of Capetown Library and information ServicesCleveland Public LibraryCork City LibrariesDC Public LibraryDe Bibliotheek UtrechtDún Laoghaire-Rathdown LibrariesDunedin Public LibrariesFree Library of PhiladelphiaGalway Public LibrariesGlasgow Life LibraryHartford Public LibraryHelsinki City LibraryIndia International Centre LibraryIowa City Public LibraryKansas City Public LibraryKatona József Library of Bács-Kiskun CountyLaramie County Library SystemLeipziger Städtische BibliothekenLibraries TasmaniaLimerick City & County LibrariesLjubljana City LibraryLos Angeles Public LibraryMiami-Dade Public Library SystemMilwaukee Public LibraryMultnomah County LibraryNational Library Board of SingaporeNational Library of MalaysiaNew Hampshire State LibraryNorfolk Library and Information ServiceOklahoma Department of LibrariesOpenbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Bruges Public Library)Openbare Bibliotheek GentOslo Public Library (Deichman)Ottawa Public LibraryRedbridge LibrariesRéseau des bibliothèques de ColmarReykjavík City LibraryRichland LibraryRijeka City LibrarySan Diego Public LibrarySistema Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas/Biblioteca Demonstrativa do BrasilSofia City LibrarySolvberget LIbrary & Culture CentreStadtbibliothek BremenStadtbücherei Frankfurt am MainStadtbücherei HeidelbergStadtbüchereien DüsseldorfState Library of QueenslandState Library of VictoriaTampere City LibraryThe National Library of AustraliaThe State Library of South AustraliaToronto Public LibraryUniversitätsbibliothek BernVancouver Public LibraryVeria Central Public LibraryWaterford City and County LibrariesWellington City LibrariesWinnipeg Public LibraryZentral- und Landesbibliothek BerlinZentralbibliothek Zürich

Meet the 2023 Judges

Chris Morash

Chris Morash

(Non-Voting Chair)

“Sifting through so many great novels, to find the one that stands out over all…there really is something magic about it.”

Chris Morash is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing in Trinity College Dublin, where he served as Vice-Provost of the university from 2016-19. His most recent book, Dublin: A Writer’s City will be published early in 2023. He is currently editing the Cambridge History of the Irish Novel. He was the 2022 Macgeorge Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and curated the Unseen Plays series for the Abbey Theatre (2021).

Gabriel Gbadamosi

Gabriel Gbadamosi

“Between Newfoundland women & Egyptian Mamluk emirs I meet African American detectives and an Oklahoma boy with a glint in his brain. The winner is clearly the readers at all those libraries that nominate a book.”

Gabriel Gbadamosi is an Irish and Nigerian poet, playwright and critic. His London novel Vauxhall won the Tibor Jones Pageturner Prize and Best International Novel at the Sharjah Book Fair. He was AHRC Creative and Performing Arts Fellow at the Pinter Centre, Goldsmiths in European and African performance; a Judith E. Wilson Fellow for creative writing at Cambridge University; and Writer in Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange.

Marie Hermet

Marie Hermet

“I travel from XVth Century Constantinople to modern Japan without leaving my couch, and I emerge late, blinking…What’s for dinner? No idea, but let me tell you about the extraordinary book I’ve just read.”

Marie Hermet is a literary translator, reader and scout for French publishing houses. So far she has translated over sixty works of fiction and non-fiction from English, some by favourite Irish authors Donal Ryan, Roddy Doyle and Dermot Bolger. Marie also teaches translation and creative writing at the Université Paris Cité, where her curricula have a strong focus on Irish literature.

Sarah Moss

Sarah Moss

“I’m always telling students to read what’s interesting rather than what they know they’ll like and I thought it would be good for me to walk a path laid by others, but I hadn’t anticipated the wildness of the ride.”

Sarah Moss was born in Glasgow and grew up in northern England. She is the author of eight novels, including The Fell, Summerwater and Ghost Wall. She has BA, M. St. and D.Phil degrees in English Literature from Oxford University and taught at the universities of Kent, Exeter, Iceland and Warwick before moving to Dublin where she teaches on the MA and MFA in Creative Writing at UCD.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

“To plunge oneself into such an ocean of literature is a joy and an education, but the process of reading so many wonderful books has also been deeply exhilarating.”

Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a bilingual poet, essayist and translator. Her prose début A Ghost in the Throat went on to be described as “powerful” (New York Times) and “captivatingly original” (The Guardian). It won the James Tait Black Prize and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, while the US edition was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a New York Times Notable Book. Doireann is also the author of six critical- ly-acclaimed books of poetry.

Arunava Sinha

Arunava Sinha

“I’d just like to say that even after more than four decades of reading, it is impossible not to be astonished by the books we are reading.”

Arunava Sinha translates fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Bengali to English, and from English to Bengali. Over seventy of his publications have been published so far. He has won several translation awards in India, and has been shortlisted for a number of international awards. He is the co-director of the Ashoka Centre for Translation.

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.