Even the Dogs - 2012 IMPAC Award Winner

Even the Dogs by British author Jon McGregor is the winner of the 2012 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. The €100,000 prize is the largest prize for a single novel published in English. Uniquely, the IMPAC DUBLIN receives its nominations from public libraries around the globe. The winning novel beat off competition from 146 other titles, nominated by 162 public libraries from 45 countries. The other shortlisted novels were Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer (Australia), The Matter with Morris by David Bergen (Canada), A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (USA), The Memory of Love by Animatta Forna (UK), Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (USA), Landed by Tim Pears (UK), Limassol by Yishai Sarid (Israel), The Eternal Son by Cristovão Tezza (Brazil) and Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin (USA). The international judges said: “Even the Dogs is a fearless experiment which shows us in close-up detail the lives of a gathering of homeless addicts as they go about their daily forage for shelter, drink or a fix. Theirs are stories of lives fallen through the cracks, hopes flaring and dying, love overwhelmed by a stronger need, and the havoc wrought by drugs, distress, and the disregard of the wider world. These invisible people live in a parallel reality, out of reach of basic creature comforts, like food and shelter. In their sudden deaths, it becomes clear, they are treated with more respect than they ever were in their short lives.” The judges also said “When all is said and done Even the Dogs is a compelling read. When we close the book we marvel that McGregor, in less than two hundred pages, has managed to sketch such a complete and complex picture of a world which is so near to hand but so seldom lingered over. The greatest compliment we can pay the novel is that we will go back to read it again – to relive it, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its men and women and to bear witness to their trials and sufferings”. The book was nominated by M.I. Rudomino State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow. Previous winners of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award include: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2011), The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (2010), Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas (2009), De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (2008), Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2007) and The Master by Colm Tóibín (2006). See www.impacdublinaward.ie for full details of the International IMPAC Dublin Award.