Blogs

Douglas Stuart has won the Booker Prize for Shuggie Bain, his debut novel about a boy in 1980s Glasgow trying to support his mother as she struggles with addiction and poverty. Chair of judges Margaret Busby said the judges' decision was unanimous and they only "took an hour to decide". The book is "challenging, intimate and gripping... anyone who reads it will never feel the same" she said.

Irish author Anna Burns has won the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for her novel Milkman.

The An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible.

Have you noticed the Tatty street banners flying high around St. Stephens Green and the one on Liberty Hall recently? Tatty is a novel by Christine Dwyer Hickey, which was first published in 2004, and this year was chosen as the Dublin One City One Book choice.

Maggie O’Farrell has won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction for Hamnet, her novel inspired by the life and death of Shakespeare’s only son. It was chosen from a shortlist that included the Booker Prize winning Girl, Woman,

Ten novels have been shortlisted for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council. The shortlist announced today includes Milkman by Irish author Anna Burns, and three novels in translation. Celebrating 25 years, 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. If the book has been translated the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000.The writers, eight of whom are female, come from Canada, France, India, Iran, Ireland, Poland, the UK and the USA.The six member international judging panel, chaired by Prof. Chris Morash, will select one winner on Thursday 22nd October during the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin) reimagined 2020 festival.Shortlisted Titles1.The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (British). Published by Hamish Hamilton Ltd.2.Milkman by Anna Burns (Irish). Published by Faber & Faber and Graywolf Press.3.Disoriental by Négar Djavadi (Iranian-French). Translated from the French by Tina Kover. Published by Europa Editions.4.Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (Canadian). Published by Serpents Tail Ltd., HarperCollins Canada and Alfred A. Knopf.5.An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (American). Published by Algonquin Books.6.History of Violence by Édouard Louis (French). Translated from the French by Lorin Stein. Published by Harvill Secker.7.The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (American). Published by Virago Press Ltd.8.There There by Tommy Orange (Native American). Published by Harvill Secker, Alfred A. Knopf and McClelland & Stewart Inc.9.All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy (Indian). Published by MacLehose Press and Atria Books.10. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish). Translated by from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.Borrow the BooksAll the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries. Readers can also borrow most of the shortlisted titles on BorrowBox - eBooks and eAudiobooks for limited periods by way of digital loans. The full list of 156 titles has been published in a free newsletter, and all details are also on the newly revamped Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.

A Dutch writer has become the youngest author to win the International Booker Prize. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, 29, was announced as the winner for 'The Discomfort of Evening', a dark story about a devout farming family in a strict Christian community in the rural Netherlands. Under the rules of the prize, the £50,000 award will be split between the author and the translator, Michele Hutchison, giving both equal recognition.The Discomfort of Evening is Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's first novel. A best seller in the Netherlands in 2018, this radical debut novel offers readers a rare vision of rural and religious life in the Netherlands. In it, they ask: In the absence of comfort and care, what can the mind of a child invent to protect itself? And what happens when that is not enough? With stunning psychological acuity and images of haunting, violent beauty, Rijneveld has created a captivating world of language unlike any other.PlotThe book is set among a religious Dutch family living on a dairy farm in the early 2000s. It tells the story of Jas, a 10-year-old girl whose brother dies in an ice-skating accident, and follows her family’s struggle with grief.Jas lives with her strictly religious parents and her siblings on a dairy farm where waste and frivolity are akin to sin. Despite the dreary routine of their days, Jas has a unique way of experiencing her world: her face soft like cheese under her mother’s hands; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads in the village; the sound of “blush words” that aren’t in the Bible.One icy morning, the disciplined rhythm of her family’s life is ruptured by a tragic accident, and Jas is convinced she is to blame. As her parents’ suffering makes them increasingly distant, Jas and her siblings develop a curiosity about death that leads them into disturbing rituals and fantasies. Cocooned in her red winter coat, Jas dreams of “the other side” and of salvation, not knowing where this dreaming will finally lead her.Shortlist'The Discomfort of Evening', published in the United States this month, was chosen from a shortlist that included Yoko Ogawa’s 'The Memory Police', a dystopian tale that was a finalist for last year’s National Book Award for Translated Literature, and Daniel Kehlmann’s 'Tyll', about a 17th-century jester who travels around Europe, which is being adapted for Netflix.Past winners have included The Vegetarian, by the Korean writer Han Kang, and Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, who was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. We have hard copies of the winner the International Booker Prize winner, The Discomfort of Evening, on our shelves and on BorrowBox.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN. Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link.

The latest DCLA podcast is the second part of "Selected Shorts", a discussion with authors Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Lia Mills, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Anne Devlin, chaired by Catherine Dunne.The conversation explores whether the short story is a naturally introspective and self-reflective genre, and questions whether the form, described by Mary Lavin's as an "owl in flight", or "a slide under the microscope", has opened up or altered under the influence of television, poetry and film. If you haven’t already, we suggest listening to part one first, where you will hear actors Rose Henderson, Susie Lamb, Katie O'Kelly and Geraldine Plunkett perform readings by these four authors.Recorded at the New Theatre on Saturday 7 April 2018.This interesting discussion examines whether the short story is a naturally introspective and self-reflective genre, and questions whether the form, described by Mary Lavin's as an "owl in flight", or "a slide under the microscope", has opened up or altered under the influence of television, poetry and film. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is a novelist, critic and folklore scholar. Among her novels are Cailíni Beaga Ghleann na mBlath, The Dancers Dancing, and Fox, Swallow Scarecrow.Lia Mills writes novels (Another Alice, Nothing Simple, and Fallen, which was the Dublin: One City One Book title for 2016) short stories and essays. Christine Dwyer Hickey is a novelist, playwright and short story writer. Her works include the novels Tatty, Last Train from Liguria, The Cold Eye of Heaven and The Narrow Land and the short story collection Parkgate Street and other Dublin StoriesAnne Devlin is a playwright and short story writer. Her works include The Waypaver Ourselves Alone (Royal Court, 1985) and After Easter (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1993) and the radio play The Forgotten (2009).You can subscribe to the Dublin City Libraries and Archives podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. This season is based on recordings from the 2018 Dublin: One City, One Book events. Dublin: One City, One Book is an award-winning Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, that encourages everyone to read a particular book during the month of April every year. 2018's choice was 'The Long Gaze Back' which you can read on Borrowbox and of course you can order it from your favourite bookshop.The Dublin: One City, One Book for 2020 is Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey, available electronically on our BorrowBox app and from your favourite bookseller.Finally if you’re interested in podcasts why not check out the Dublin Festival of History podcast which features recordings from the free annual event and the new City of Books podcast with Martina Devlin, the podcast for people who believe stories matter. And that you can never have too many books.

First awarded in 2006, the An Post Irish Book Awards showcase a diverse mix of exceptional writing from new and established writers across sixteen categories, with this year’s star-studded awards ceremony taking place in the Convention Centre Dublin. A host of Ireland’s leading writers, publishers, booksellers and media personalities were all in attendance to see the winners claim their awards.Below is the full list of winners for the ‘An Post Irish Book Awards 2019’ (with links to our catalogue):RTÉ Radio 1 Listeners’ Choice AwardOvercoming – Vicky Phelan with Naomi Linehan (Hachette Books) – Championed by Ray D’ArcyBord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the YearRecovering – Richie Sadlier with Dion Fanning (Gill Books)Avoca Cookbook of the YearCornucopia: The Green Cookbook – Tony Keogh, Aoife Carrigy, the Chefs of Cornucopia, Deirdre and Dairine McCafferty (Gill Books)Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the YearCruel Acts – Jane Casey (HarperFiction)Bookselling Ireland Non-Fiction Book of the YearConstellations – Sinéad Gleeson (Picador), also available on Borrowbox, eBook and audio.TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the YearChildren of the Troubles – Joe Duffy and Freya McClements (Hachette Books Ireland), also available on Borrowbox as eBook.Love Leabhar Gaeilge Irish Language Book of the YearTairngreacht – Proinsias Mac a’Bhaird (LeabhairComhar)Dept51 @ Eason Teen & Young Adult Book of the YearOther Words for Smoke – Sarah Maria Griffin (Titan Books)Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – SeniorShooting for the Stars – My Journey to Become Ireland’s First Astronaut – Norah Patten, illustrated by Jennifer Farley (The O’Brien Press)Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior123 Ireland! – Aoife Dooley (Little Island Books)Sunday Independent Newcomer of the YearWhen All is Said – Anne Griffin (Hodder & Stoughton)National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the YearOnce, Twice, Three Times an Aisling – Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen (Gill Books)Listowel Writers’ Week Irish Poem of the YearSalt Rain – Audrey Molloy (Mslexia, September 2019)Writing.ie Short Story of the Year AwardParrot – Nicole Flattery (The Stinging Fly, Issue 39, Volume 2, Winter 2018-19)Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the YearBarefoot Pilgrimage – Andrea Corr (HarperNonFiction) also available on Borrowbox as eBook.Eason Novel of the YearShadowplay – Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker) also available on Borrowbox as eBook.Joining the library is simple as ABC. There are no fines and you can use your card in any library in Ireland. Teenagers will need the signature of a parent or guardian when completing the membership form. Their parent or guardian will need to bring photo I.D. and proof of address.BorrowBox is available from your local library, or as an app downloadable to your mobile device. All you need is an email address, your library barcode and a PIN number.  Kindle ereaders will only work with books purchased from Amazon. However, you can read BorrowBox books on a Kindle Fire tablet. http://www.dublincity.ie/library-eresources 

Eight novels from Ireland are among 156 books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award. With the winner receiving €100,000, the Award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English. Nominations include 50 novels in translation with works nominated by libraries from 40 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, the US & Canada, South America and Australia & New Zealand.Organised by Dublin City Council, the 2020 Award was launched today by Cllr. Mary Fitzpatrick, representing Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe, Patron of the Award. Cllr. Fitzpatrick commended the Award for its promotion of excellence in world literature and the opportunity it provides to promote Irish writing internationally;“I am very pleased that Dublin City Council continues to support this significant international award. Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature and the Council is committed to further developing the City’s worldwide reputation as a literary destination, a key part of our cultural tourism offering.”The Irish titles nominated for the 2020 Award are:  A Ladder to the Sky by John BoyneMilkman by Anna BurnsThe Woman in the Woods by John ConnollyBegotten Not Made by Cónal CreedonOrchid and the Wasp by Caoilinn HughesSkin Deep by Liz NugentTravelling in a Strange Land by David ParkNormal People by Sally Rooney The International DUBLIN Literary Award is managed by Dublin City Council’s library service. Mairead Owens, Dublin City Librarian, announced that the 156 books eligible for the 2020 award were nominated by libraries in 119 cities and 40 countries worldwide; noting that 50 are titles in translation, spanning 21 languages and 51 books are first novels.Speaking of the global interest in the Award, the City Librarian Mairead Owens remarked;“This great prize affirms Dublin’s commitment to international writers and translators, to literature and creativity. Through this award Dublin, a UNESCO City of Literature, brings the worldwide community of readers together to read the works of contemporary writers from all corners of the world.”Most Nominated BooksThe book that received most nominations for 2020 is There There by Tommy Orange, chosen by 13 libraries in Canada, Greece, Ireland, and the USA . The second-most nominated book is Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, chosen by 11 libraries in Canada, England, Jamaica, and USA. Normal People by Sally Rooney was nominated by libraries in Germany, New Zealand and Ireland.Katona József Library of Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary nominated Orchid and the Wasp by Irish author Caoilinn Hughes noting: “The book is the girl’s coming of age story across different places and in circumstances of economic collapse and family dynamics.  Themes and messages of morality, mental health, class, religion and contemporary politics are written in a modern and unique style.” Other novels nominated for the 2020 Award include Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018 and who also won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her novel Flight, and The Great Fall by Peter Handke, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019. Novels in TranslationAmong the 50 translated books are novels originally published in Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Slovene and Spanish.Translated authors include Peter Handke, Olga Tokarczuk, Benyamin, Chico Buarque, Paolo Cognetti, Adélaide de Clermont-Tonnerre, Julián Fuks, and Cristina Rivera Garza. Judging PanelThe 2020 international Judging Panel comprises Irish editor and columnist, Niall MacMonagle; Scottish author and editor Zoë Strachan; Yannick Garcia, a Catalan writer and translator based in Barcelona; Cathy Rentzenbrink, a Sunday Times top ten bestseller of the year writer; and Indian-born translator and champion of the novel, Shreela Ghosh. The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin. Borrow the Books!All the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries. The full list of 156 titles has been published in a free newsletter, and all details are also on the newly revamped Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.  What's Next?The shortlist will be published on 2nd April 2020, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin will announce the winner on 10th June 2020.