The longlist of books nominated for the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was announced today, Monday, 12th November. With 154 books, nominated by libraries in 120 cities, in 44 countries, in 19 languages, it's the most international of literary awards.Right: Dublin City Librarian, Margaret Hayes, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Naoise Ó Muirí, Patron of the Award (click to view larger image).Eight novels by Irish authors are among the 154 books that have been nominated. Nominations also include 43 American, 22 British and 12 Canadian novels, as well as 42 books translated into English.Organised and administered by Dublin City Public Libraries, the 2013 Award was launched today by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Naoise Ó Muirí, Patron of the Award, at a ceremony in the Dublin City Library and Archive, headquarters of the city library service.Left: The Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street, headquarters of the City Library Service.The most nominated book is 'The Sense of an Ending' by Julian Barnes, which received fifteen nominations from libraries in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.The 2012 winning title was 'Even the Dogs' by British novelist Jon McGregor.All the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from branches of Dublin City Public Libraries (check the library catalogue), so now is the time to get reading in tandem with the five judges who have the unenviable task of picking a shortlist and ultimately the winning title. So lots of reading to do between now and April 9 next year when the shortlist will be announced. The winner will be announced on June 6, 2013.
The shortlist for the 2012 CWA (Crime Writers' Association) International Dagger has just been announced. This is an annual competition for crime, thriller, suspense or spy fiction novels which have been translated into English.
Yesterday saw the shortlist announcement for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK's annual book award for fiction written by a woman. In its 17th year, the Prize 'celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing throughout the world' (quote).Included on the shortlist is 'The Forgotten Waltz', the story of an adulterous affair and the fifth novel by Irish writer Anne Enright. Enright, who has been nominated three times for the Orange award, won the Man Booker Prize in 2007 for her novel 'The Gathering'.Other books on the shortlist include 'Half Blood Blues' by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, 'Painter of Silence' by Britain's Georgina Harding, and three works by American authors - 'The Song of Achilles' by Madeline Miller, 'Foreign Bodies' by Cynthia Ozick and 'State of Wonder' by Ann Patchett.The award ceremony takes place in London on the 30th May.You can read the full shortlist announcement on the award website.Reviews of The Forgotten Waltz"The Forgotten Waltz, teeming with credible characters that are difficult to empathise with, forces us to look in the mirror. It reveals human beings as capable of empathy, but not empathetic; capable of self-awareness, but constantly fleeing from it. It is a discomfiting public examination of conscience, an exposé of our national shortcomings so recently in the limelight." Irish Independent, April 2012."Cloaked in a novel about a love affair is a ferocious indictment of the self-involved material girls our era has produced." New York Times, Sept 2011."Less important than the momentum of the affair is Enright's playful and beautifully expressed examination of how it feels to cross the line." The Independent, March 2012."Enright has established herself as one of the most grown-up of contemporary novelists, one of the few to pay attention to the messiness of ordinary lives... Anne Enright has taken a great risk in writing this book, but she has brought it off superbly." The Telegraph, April 2011.
International Dublin Literary Awardwww.dublinliteraryaward.ieThe largest, most international, award of its kind. It involves libraries from all corners of the world and is open to books written in any language as long as they have been translated into English. The winner is announced in June of each year. 1996 was the first year of the Award.Winner 2017: A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa.Access current and past issues of 'Fiction Matters', the Award Newsletter.The Man Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize is one of the world's most famous literary prizes for contemporary fiction. From 2014 eligibility for The Man Booker Prize was extended to include novels originally written in English and published in the UK, regardless of the nationality of their author. Previously it was only awarded to the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.2017 Winner: Lincoln in the Bardo by George SaundersKey prize dates:Longlist announcement - JulyShortlist announcement - SeptemberWinner announcement - OctoberThe Man Booker International PrizeFrom 2016 the The Man Booker International Prize is to be awarded annually on the basis of a single book. This follows the decision of The Booker Prize Foundation to join forces with The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.2017 Winner: David Grossman 'A Horse Walks into a Bar'. Translated from Israeli by Jessica Cohen.The Man Booker International Prize was established in 2005. From 2005 to 2015 it was awarded biannually to the author for a body of work originally written in any language as long as it was widely available in English. Previous awards were given to Ismail Kadare in 2005, Chinua Achebe in 2007, Alice Munro in 2009, Philip Roth in 2011, Lydia David in 2013 and László Krasznahorkai in 2015.The winner is announced in June.The Irish Book AwardsThe Irish Book Awards, which grew out of the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Prize, were established in 2006 to "acknowledge the wealth of talent in Irish literature".2017 Winners:Journal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year: Atlas of the Irish Revolution by John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John BorgonovoEason Book Club Novel of the Year: Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLavertySpecsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year: The Break by Marian KeyesIrish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year: The Therapy House by Julie ParsonsSunday Independent Newcomer of the Year: I Found My Tribe by Ruth FitzmauriceEurospar Cookbook of the Year: Cook Well, Eat Well by Rory O'ConnellRTÉ Radio 1’S The Ryan Tubridy Show Listeners’ Choice Award 2017: he: A Novel by John ConnollyOnside Non-Fiction Book of the Year: Wounds: A Memoir of War & Love by Fergal KeaneBord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year: The Choice by Philly McMahon With Niall KellyIreland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year: Motherfoclóir by Darach Ó SéaghdhaWriting.ie Short Story of the Year: Back To Bones by Christine Dwyer HickeyListowel Writers' Week Poem of the Year: Seven Sugar Cubes by Clodagh Beresford DunneThe winners are announced in November of each year.Rooney Prize for Irish LiteratureThe Rooney Prize for Irish Literature is awarded annually to an emerging Irish writer under forty years of age for a body of work that the selection committee considers shows exceptional promise.The Prize was established in 1976 through the generosity of Dr Daniel Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers (American football team) and of his wife Patricia, and since 2007 it has been administered in Trinity College's Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing of the School of English. It is worth €10,000 to the winner. The winner is announced in the Autumn each year.2017 Recipient: Elizabeth ReapyWomen's Prize for FictionLaunched in 1996, the Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded to a female author who, in the opinion of the judges, has written the best, eligible full-length novel in English.Winner 2017: 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman.The winner is announced in June each year.Costa Book Awardshttp://www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-awardsThe selection criteria for these awards is for well-written enjoyable books in five categories which the judges would recommend anyone to read.Costa Book of the Year 2017 Inside the Wave by Helen DunmoreCategory Winners 2017: Costa First Novel Award: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail HoneymanCosta Novel Award: Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregorCosta Biography Award: In the Days of Rain by Rebecca StottCosta Poetry Award: Inside the Wave by Helen DunmoreCosta Children's Book Award: The Explorer by Katherine RundellThe winners are announced in January for the previous year.Desmond Elliott PrizeThe Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for a first novel written in English and published in the UK. Worth £10,000 to the winner, the prize is named after the literary agent and publisher, Desmond Elliott. (extract)The longlist and shortlist are announced around April/May, while the winner is announced in late June.The 2017 winner was 'Golden Hill' by Francis Spufford.Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionThe Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction is the UK's most important prize for non-fiction (formerly the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize)Winner 2017: How to Survive a Plague: the story of how activists and scientists tamed AIDS by David FranceThe winner is announced in November each year.Crime Writers’ Association DaggersThe CWA Daggers celebrate the best in crime and thriller writing.Winners 2017:Gold – (best crime novel of the year) Jane Harper for The DryIan Fleming Steel – (best crime thriller of the year) Mick Herron for Spook StreetJohn Creasey New Blood (best debut crime novel) Chris Whitaker for Tall OaksEndeavour Historical – (best historical crime novel) Abir Mukherjee for A Rising ManGold Dagger for Non-Fiction – Stephen Purvis for Close But No Cigar: A True Story of Prison Life in Castro’s CubaShort Story - L C Tyler for ‘The Trials of Margaret’ from Motives for Murder, edited by Martin EdwardsInternational – crime fiction translated into English and published in the UK; Leif G W Persson for The Dying Detective, translated by Neil SmithDagger in the Library – Mari HannahDebut Dagger sponsored by Orion Books – Sherry Rankin for Strange FireDiamond Dagger, for a career’s outstanding contribution to crime fiction - Ann CleevesShortlist announced in the summer of each year and winners in the Autumn.William Hill Sports Book of the YearWinner 2017: Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire by Andy McGrathWilliam Hill Sports Book of the Year award website.Nobel Prize for LiteratureThe Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded annually to an individual who 'shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction'Winner 2017: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017 was awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".The David Cohen Prize for LiteratureThe David Cohen Prize for Literature established in 1992 is worth £40,000 and recognises a living writer from the UK or the Republic of Ireland for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. The biennial prize has been awarded to dramatists, essayists, biographers, novelists and poets.Recipients in recent years:2017: Tom Stoppard2015: Tony Harrison2013: Hilary Mantel2011: Julian Barnes2009: Seamus HeaneyIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize"The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize honoured the best work of fiction by a living author, which had been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom. Uniquely, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize gave the winning author and translator equal status: each received £5,000.First awarded in 1990 to Orhan Pamuk and translator Victoria Holbrook for The White Castle, the Prize ran until 1995 and was then revived in 2000 with the support of Arts Council England, who continued to fund the award.The winner of the 2015 Prize was The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky. This was to be the last winner of the The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, it since having joined forces with the Booker Prize Foundation to become the annual Man Booker International Prize (see above).Goldsmiths Prize"The Goldsmiths Prize was established in 2013 to celebrate the qualities of creative daring associated with the University and to reward fiction that breaks the mould or opens up new possibilities for the novel form." (Quote) The prize is sponsored by Goldsmiths, University of London in association with the New Statesman.2017 Winner: H(A)PPY by Nicola BarkerThe shortlist is announced in early October with the winner announcement in mid-November.Rathbones Folio PrizeRathbones Folio Prize was established in 2013 as the first major English language book prize open to writers from around the world. It is the only literary prize in which all the books considered for the prize are selected and judged by an academy of peers.Members of the Folio Prize Academy, which comprises more than 300 writers can each nominate novels, which are then assembled into a longlist, from which the judging panel select the shortlist. Previous winners were George Saunders in 2013 and Akhil Sharma in 2014.Winner 2018: Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd ParryThe winner is announced in May.The International Dylan Thomas PrizeLaunched in 2006, the annual International Dylan Thomas Prize is awarded to the "best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under" (quote). The prize is worth £30,000 to the winner.The shortlist is announced in March and the winner in May.The 2017 winning book was 'The High Places' by Fiona McFarlane. Further ReadingChildren's Book Awards.Locate blog posts on the subject of:Book Awards
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Winner 2011 Colum McCann
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann is the winner of the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The novel was chosen from a shortlist of 10, and a longlist of 162 books by 166 libraries - representing 126 cities in 43 countries.'New York, August 1974: a man is walking in the sky. Between the newly built Twin Towers, the man twirls through the air. Far below, the lives of complete strangers spin towards each other: Corrigan, a radical Irish monk working in the Bronx; Claire, a delicate Upper East Side housewife reeling from the death of her son; Lara, a drug-addled young artist; Gloria, solid and proud despite decades of hardship; Tillie, a hooker who used to dream of a better life; and Jazzlyn, her beautiful daughter raised on promises that reach beyond the skyline of New York. In the shadow of one reckless and beautiful act, these disparate lives will collide, and be transformed for ever.'Colum McCann, born in Dublin, Ireland, is the author of five novels and two collections of stories. He has won numerous international literary awards. Zoli, Dancer and This Side of Brightness (published in the UK by Bloomsbury in July 2010) were international bestsellers and his fiction has been published in over thirty languages. He lives in New YorkIn his acceptance speech Colum McCann commented:"I am completely floored by this – exhilarated, proud, but most of all humbled –I mean truly humbled – and nervous …. humbled not just by the experience, but by the whole history, local and international, that this encompasses: all the writers and all the libraries, all the readers, all the guests here tonight, and, in fact, all the writers down through the years who have written about, or dreamed about, this very fine city, this country of literature." Let The Great World Spin is available to borrow from Dublin City Public Libraries.(Photo Jason Clarke Photography)Visit the Award Website.