Eight Irish Novels on 2013 IMPAC longlist

Eight novels by Irish authors are among the 154 books that have been nominated by 120 libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.  ‘This is the highest number of Irish authors ever to be nominated in any one year by libraries around the world for the IMPAC DUBLIN Award’ said Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian. ‘It says a lot for the high quality of writing coming from Irish writers currently and it reinforces Dublin’s status as UNESCO City of Literature’. The 154 nominations for the award come from 120 cities and 44 countries worldwide. 42 are titles in translation, spanning 19 languages and 47 are first novels’

The Irish titles are:

On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry, nominated by San Diego Public Library, USA and by Dublin City Libraries.

City of Bohane by Kevin Barry, nominated by Cork City Libraries, Limerick City Library and Dublin City Public Libraries.

The Absolutist by John Boyne, nominated by Liverpool City Library and Tampere City Library, Finland.

The Dulang Washer by Paul Callan, nominated by The National Library of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpar.

Long Time, No See by Dermot Healy nominated by Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek, Norway and The Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow, Russia

The Cold Eye of Heaven by Christine Dwyer Hickey, nominated by Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek, Norway

Twice Born by author Margaret Mazzantini, nominated by Waterford County Library, Ireland and by Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Italy

Double Talk by Patrick Warner, nominated by The Provincial Resource Library, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

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. Other books nominated by multiple libraries are The Sisters Brothers by Canadian writer, Patrick de Witt, and two debut American novels, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, and TheTiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht.