2009 IMPAC Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was formally announced by The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne on April 2nd, 2009 in The Mansion House. The shortlist was selected from a total of 146 novels nominated by 157 public library systems in 117 cities worldwide. The award is worth €100,000 and is the world’s most valuable literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.
The shortlisted titles are:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Dominican - American)
Ravel by Jean Echenoz (French) in translation.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistani )
The Archivist’s Story by Travis Holland (American)
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen (Norwegian) in translation.
The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt (American)
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Indian)
Man Gone Down by Micheal Thomas (American)
American authors feature strongly with four of the eight short listed titles, and two of the titles are translated works. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People confirm the already established recognition of literature from the East demonstrated by the award in previous years. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Norwegian Roy Jacobsen, and Ravel by France’s Jean Echenoz, both in translation, are novels of a quality we have come to expect from two of Europe’s highly skilled craftsmen. The winner will be announced in Dublin on Thursday June 11th 2009. The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is managed by Dublin City Libraries, on behalf of Dublin City Council. It is sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company with its European headquarters in Dublin. The Award is presented annually with the objective of promoting excellence in world literature. It is open to novels written in any language and by authors of any nationality, provided the work has been published in English or English translation in the specified time period as outlined in the rules and conditions for the year. Nominations are submitted by library systems in major cities throughout the world. Recent previous winners of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award include: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (2008) and Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2007).