Summer Stars runs from Tues 4 June to Sat 31 August. Get Reading! Now that school is over you can still spark your imagination, join in activities and take part in our exciting Summer Stars challenge.
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 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.