2021 Dublin Literary Award Longlist of Library Nominations
Published on 4th February 2021
Four novels from Ireland are among the forty nine books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award, which is sponsored by Dublin City Council. Now in its twenty sixth year, this award is the world's most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner.
Nominations include eighteen novels in translation with works nominated by libraries from thirty countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, the US and Canada, South America and Australia & New Zealand. If the winning book has been translated, the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000.
The Irish titles nominated for the 2021 Award are:
When all is Said by Anne Griffin, published by Hodder and Stoughton and nominated by Łódź Public Library, Poland
Apeirogon by Colum McCann, published by Bloomsbury and nominated by South Dublin Libraries, Ireland
Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor, published by Harvill Secker and nominated by Municipal Library of Genève, Switzerland
The Trumpet Shall Sound by Eibhear Walshe, published by Sommerville Press and nominated by Cork City Libraries, Ireland
The shortlist will be announced on 25th March 2021 and the winner will be announced by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Hazel Chu, on 20th May 2021, as part of the opening day programme of International Literature Festival Dublin, which is also funded by Dublin City Council.
Please note that physical books cannot be reserved presently due to Level 5 restrictions. However, readers can borrow some of the longlisted titles as eBooks and eAudiobooks for free on Borrowbox. All the novels nominated for the Award will be available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries and from public libraries around Ireland when Libraries reopen.
The Dublin Literary Award is managed by Dublin City Council’s library service. Mairead Owens, Dublin City Librarian, announced that the forty nine books eligible for the 2021 award were nominated by libraries in sixty nine cities and thirty countries worldwide; noting that eighteen are titles in translation, spanning ten languages, and ten books are first novels.
Speaking about how Libraries around the world adapted to the challenges of the pandemic, the City Librarian remarked;
‘Books and reading have sustained the human spirit during this, the Covid-19 pandemic. We escaped with our favourite authors to distant lands, we explored new cultures and we learnt new skills. Librarians are privileged to work in such a rewarding environment. Yes, we faced many challenges over the last year but we have risen to support our communities. Dublin City is appreciative of libraries worldwide for your participation in the 2021 Dublin Literary Award. The Award solidifies the ethos of fostering literacy and a love of reading in our respective local communities and the fact that we work internationally is significant.’
Ms Owens also welcomed three new nominating libraries: Slemani Public Library in Iraq, South Dublin Libraries in Ireland, and District of Columbia Public Library in USA.
The international panel of judges who will select the winner, features Jan Carson, a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast; David James Karashima, an author, translator, and associate professor of creative writing at Waseda University in Tokyo; Lebanese-born, Dr Rita Sakr who lectures in Postcolonial and Global Literatures at Maynooth University; Dr Martín Veiga, a Cork-based Galician poet, translator, and academic who lectures in Hispanic Studies at University College Cork, and Enda Wyley, an Irish poet, author, and teacher who has published six collections of poetry.
The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin. Professor Morash will be interviewed on Arena RTE Radio1 this evening between 7-8pm.