FICTION MATTERS 2016 THE COMPLETE LIST - SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT 12 APRIL WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT 9 JUNE - INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
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The newsletter of the INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
FICTION MATTERS
No.22 – February 2016
The Complete list
of eligible titles
2016
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEment 12 April WINNER ANNOUNCEment 9 June
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
Harvest by Jim Crace is the winner of the 20th Award!
The 2015 Winner Announcement took place in the Round Room
of the Mansion House, Dublin on 17th June 2015
Left to Right; Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian; Jim Crace, winner of the 2015 award; Lord Mayor of Dublin and Patron of the Award,
Christy Burke; Owen Keegan, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council.
The International DUBLIN Literary Award (formerly IMPAC
Dublin) is presented annually for a novel written in English or
translated into English. The award aims to promote excellence
in world literature and is sponsored by Dublin City Council, the
municipal government of Dublin. The award is now in its 21st year.
Nominations are submitted by library systems in major cities
throughout the world.
2 www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
Kate Harvey from Picador – publishers of Harvest – is presented with a Jane Alger, Director, Dublin UNESCO City
Dublin Crystal Bowl by Owen Keegan, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council, with of Literature, Master of Ceremonies.
Jim Crace, right.
Jim Crace, pictured with Alessandra Mariani, Biblioteca Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian, pictured here with
Nazionale di Roma, Italy, as she is presented with a scroll by the Kantawan Magkunthod, winner of the Thai Young Writers
Lord Mayor, Christy Burke, in recognition of library participation competition, organised by the Irish Embassy in Malaysia.
worldwide.
Congratulations to the nominators of Harvest,
Universitätsbibliothek Bern, Switzerland
and LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library
System, Tallahassee, USA.
Left to Right: Gabriela Scherrer Bern, Nick Landolt Bern,
Donna Cirenza Tallahassee.
“We were delighted that Harvest was the “This was so much fun for me and I am “Harvest details the unravelling of life as
winner of the 2015 award. The novel struck over the moon that our nomination won. changes creep or rush upon us. This book
us as very imaginative, roaming widely To hear the author thank the library in led me to read Jim Crace’s previous novels.
across epochs and cultures. We have been his speech was exciting.” I think his keen, observant eye gives
nominating novels for more than 10 years readers wonderful books.”
and are looking forward to participating in
the process again.”
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 3
The launch of the 2016 International DUBLIN Literary Award,
Dublin City Library and Archive, 9th November 2015
Margaret Hayes, left, Dublin City Librarian and Ardmhéara, Críona Ní Dhalaigh, Patron, celebrate Dublin City Council’s sole sponsorship
of the award and change of name to The International DUBLIN Literary Award
Irish authors nominated for the 2016 award attend the launch. Left to Right Liz Nugent, Mary Costello, Sebastian Barry, Joseph
O’Connor, Audrey Magee and Eibhear Walshe. The longlist also includes Colm Tóibín.
Members of the 2016 Judging Panel Left to Right Juan Pablo Villalobos, Carlo Gébler, Ian Sansom, Meaghan Delahunt, Judge Eugene
Sullivan, non-voting chair and Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian. The 2016 judging panel also includes Iglika Vassileva.
4 www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
The King journalist, Jessica Keith, is assigned to Song of the Shank
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
by Kader Abdolah cover the mysterious murder. Something by Jeffery Renard Allen
Translated from the Dutch by unexpected happens when she meets a
British numerologist, Professor Aaron NOMINATED BY:
Nancy Forest-Flier
Barone at a seminar in the University of Pikes Peak Library District,
NOMINATED BY: London. They suddenly become fugitives Colorado Springs, USA
De Bibliotheek Eindhoven, when another murder takes place at his At the heart of
The Netherlands home in Hampstead. The church is trying to this remarkable
cover up the murder to keep their interests novel is Thomas
It is the nineteenth guarded. But the utmost of all secrets Greene Wiggins,
century and the cannot be kept forever. a nineteenth-
kingdom of Persia
Nazehran Jose Ahmad is a Malaysian century slave
is at a turning
author born in Kelantan in 1980. He has and improbable
point. When a
published nine books, which include three musical genius
young King, Shah
novels in Malay and one novel translated who performed
Naser, takes to
to English. His five children’s books have under the name
the throne he
been reprinted several times and received Blind Tom.
inherits a medieval,
good reviews from Malaysian readers. Song of the Shank
enchanted world.
The Michelangelo Code is his first English- opens in 1866 as Tom and his guardian
But beyond the
translation novel with AuthorHouse UK. struggle to adjust to their fashionable
court, the greater
He now lives in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. apartment in the city in the aftermath
forces of colonisation and industrialisation
of riots that had driven them away a few
close in. The Shah’s grand vizier sees only
years before. But soon a stranger arrives
one solution – to open up to the outside An Unnecessary Woman who intends to reunite Tom with his now-
world, and to bring Persia into modernity. by Rabih Alameddine liberated mother.
But the Shah’s mother fiercely opposes the
NOMINATED BY: As the novel ranges from Tom’s
vizier’s reforms and sets about poisoning
The Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton boyhood to the heights of his performing
her son’s mind against his advisor.
County, USA career, the inscrutable savant is buffeted
With bloody battles, intrigue and
Cleveland Public Library, USA by opportunistic teachers and crooked
extraordinary characters, The King brings
Los Angeles Public Library, USA managers, crackpot healers and militant
a historical moment brilliantly to life.
prophets. Jeffery Renard Allen blends
Reading as fairy tale and shedding light on
Aaliya Sohbi history and fantastical invention to bring to
a pivotal period in history.
lives alone in her life a radical cipher, a man who profoundly
Kader Abdolah was born in Iran in 1954. Beirut apartment, changes all who encounter him.
In1988, at the invitation of the United surrounded by
Jeffery Renard Allen is the author of
Nations, he arrived in the Netherlands as stockpiles of books.
the novel Rails Under My Back, the story
a political refugee. Kader Abdolah now Godless, fatherless,
collection Holding Pattern, and two
writes in Dutch and is the author of several childless, and
collections of poetry. Raised in Chicago
novels, including My Father’s Notebook and divorced, Aaliya
and now living in New York, he teaches at
two collections of short stories, as well as is her family’s
Queens College and in the writing program
works of non-fiction. “unnecessary
at the New School.
appendage.” Every
year, she translates
The Michelangelo Code
a new favourite book into Arabic, then The Zone of Interest
by Nazehran Jose Ahmad
stows it away. The thirty-seven books that by Martin Amis
Translated from the Malay by Anis Mansor
Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have
NOMINATED BY:
NOMINATED BY: never been read – by anyone.
The State Library of South
The National Library of Malaysia, In this breathtaking portrait of
Australia, Adelaide
Kuala Lumpur a reclusive woman’s late-life crisis,
Winnipeg Public Library, Canada
readers follow Aaliya’s digressive mind
When the
as it ricochets across visions of past There was an old
chief prefect of
and present Beirut. Colorful musings on story about a king
archives is found
literature, philosophy, and art are invaded who asked his
mysteriously
by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and favourite wizard
murdered in the
Aaliya’s own volatile past. As she tries to to create a magic
Vatican Secret
overcome her aging body and spontaneous mirror. This mirror
Archives, it
emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with didn’t show you
unleashes a secret
an unthinkable disaster that threatens to your reflection.
that has been safely
shatter the little life she has left. Instead, it showed
buried for two
you your soul – it
thousand years. But Rabih Alameddine is the acclaimed author
showed you who
a question arises of the novels An Unnecessary Woman, The
you really were.
from the dead: the victim was a follower of Hakawati; I, The Divine; Koolaids; and the
But the king couldn’t look into the mirror
the long-lost religious group, the Cathars, short story collection, The Perv. He divides
without turning away, and nor could his
a group of Medieval Christians who believe his time between Beirut and San Francisco
courtiers. No one could.
they were the heirs of the original teaching and was a 2002 Guggenheim Fellow.
What happens when we discover who
of Jesus. A renowned Daily Telegraph
we really are? And how do we come to
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 5
terms with it? Fearless and original, And with each letter, Wang feels the In a Europe without
TITLES
ELIGIBLETITLES
The Zone of Interest is a violently dark watcher in the shadows growing closer borders, where
love story set against a backdrop of social norms
unadulterated evil, and a vivid journey Susan Barker grew up in east London. have become
ELIGIBLE
into the depths and contradictions of the While writing The Incarnations she spent fragile, a son
human soul. several years living in Beijing, researching must confront the
imperial and modern China. She lives sins of his father
Martin Amis is the author of twelve
2016
in London. and grandfather,
previous novels, the memoir Experience,
2016
and invent new
two collections of stories and six
strategies for
collections of non-fiction, most recently The Temporary Gentleman
survival.
The Second Plane. He lives in New York. by Sebastian Barry
A young boy
NOMINATED BY: grows up with a loving father who has little
Cairo Redbridge Libraries London, UK respect for the law. They are always on
by Louis Armand the run, and the boy is often distraught to
Jack McNulty
leave behind new friendships. Because he
NOMINATED BY: is a ‘temporary
cannot go to school, his anarchistic father
Městská knihovna Třinec, Czech Republic gentleman’, an
gives him an unconventional education
Irishman whose
What do a crashed intended to contradict as much as possible
commission in the
satellite, a string the teachings of his own father, a preacher
British army in
of bizarre murders and a pervert. Ten years later, when the boy
the Second World
and a time-warp is entering adulthood, he tries to conform
War was never
conspiracy have in to the demands of ordinary life, but the
permanent. In 1957
common? lessons of the past thwart his efforts, and
he urgently sets out
Welcome questions about his father’s childhood
to write his story.
to Cairo, where cannot be left unanswered.
He cannot take one
the future’s just a
step further without looking back at all that Jonas T. Bengtsson has published two
game and you’re
has befallen him. previous novels: his 2005 literary debut,
already dead.
He is an ordinary man but he has seen Amina’s Letters, winner of the Danish
extraordinary things. He has worked and Debutant Award and BG Bank First Book
Louis Armand is a writer and visual artist
wandered around the world – as a soldier, Award; and Submarino, the film adaptation
who has lived in Prague since 1994. He
an engineer, a UN observer. He had a of which took the 2010 Nordic Council Film
has worked as an editor and publisher,
strange and tumultuous marriage. Mai Prize. He lives in Copenhagen.
and as a subtitles technician at the Karlovy
Kirwan was a great beauty but an elusive
Vary Film Festival and is an editor of VLAK
and mysterious figure too. Jack shared his
magazine. He is the author of six novels, Above the East China Sea
life with her, but in time she slipped from
including Cairo, Breakfast at Midnight, by Sarah Bird
his grasp.
Menudo and Clair Obscur.
A heart-breaking portrait of one man’s NOMINATED BY:
life – of his demons and his lost love – Richland Library Columbia, USA
The Incarnations The Temporary Gentleman is, ultimately,
Okinawa, present
by Susan Barker a novel about Jack’s last bid for freedom,
day: Luz, a teenage
from the savage realities of the past and
NOMINATED BY: military brat, has
from himself.
Timaru District Libraries, New Zealand moved to the
island’s US Air
Beijing, 2008, Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in
Force base with her
the Olympics are 1955. His novels and plays have won
mother, who hopes
coming, but as numberous awards. He also had two
that the move will
taxi driver Wang consecutive novels, A Long Long Way and
reconnect them
circles the city’s The Secret Scripture, shortlisted for the
with the Okinawan
congested streets, Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow
branch of their
he feels barely with his wife and three children.
family – and help
alive. His daily
them heal from the death of Luz’s beloved
grind is suddenly
A Fairy Tale older sister.
interrupted when
by Jonas T. Bengtsson This is an island where departed
he finds a letter in
Translated from the Danish by spirits mingle with the living, and
the sunshade of his
Charlotte Barslund interwoven with Luz’s narrative is the story
cab. Someone is watching him. Someone
of an Okinawan girl, Tamiko Kokuba, who
who claims to be his soulmate and to have NOMINATED BY:
in 1945 was plucked from her high school
known him for over a thousand years. Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna im.
and trained to work in the Imperial Army’s
Other letters follow, taking Wang Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego w Łodzi,
horrific cave hospitals. Above the East China
back in time: to a spirit-bride in the Tang Poland
Sea tells the entwined stories of
Dynasty; to young slaves during the Mongol
two lives connected across time by the
invasion; to concubines plotting to kill the
shared experience of loss, the strength
emperor; to a kidnapping in the Opium
of an ancient culture, and the power
War; and to Red Guards during the Cultural
of family love.
revolution.
6 www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
Sarah Bird, winner of the 2014 Texas of troubling events. Now, three years into Loosely based on
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
Writer Award is the author of The Yokota their secluded country life, Gus works the little-known
Officers Club and eight other novels. daily on the marriage she nearly lost, 1859 Mexican
She grew up on air force bases around discovers new inspiration for her art, and invasion of the
the world and now makes her home in contemplates the mysteries of a childhood United States,
Austin, Texas. tragedy. But this quiet, healing rhythm is Carmen Boullosa’s
forever shattered one hot July day when a newest novel Texas:
stranger moves into the abandoned house The Great Theft is
The Strays
next door and crosses more boundaries a richly imagined
by Emily Bitto
than just those between their lands. Life evocation of the
NOMINATED BY: Drawing is a fierce, honest, and moving volatile Tex-Mex
The State Library of Queensland, portrait of a woman grappling with her borderland, wrested
Brisbane, Australia fate. from Mexico in 1848. Boullosa views the
border history through distinctly Mexican
On her first day at Robin Black’s stories and essays have
eyes, and her sympathetic portrayal each
a new school, Lily appeared in numerous publications. The
of her wildly diverse characters — Mexican
befriends one of winner of many awards and a recipient of
ranchers and Texas Rangers, Comanches
the daughters of fellowships from the Leeway Foundation
and cowboys, German socialists and
infamous avant- and the MacDowell Colony, Black is a
runaway slaves, Southern belles and
garde painter Evan graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA
dance hall girls — makes her storytelling
Trentham. He and Program for Writers. She lives with
tremendously powerful and absorbing.
his wife are trying to her family in Philadelphia.
With today’s Mexican-American frontier
escape the stifling
such a front-burner concern, this novel
conservatism of
Rapids that brilliantly illuminates its historical
1930s Australia
by Patrick Boltshauser landscape is especially welcome.
by inviting other
Translated from the German by Peter Arnds
like-minded artists to live and work at their Carmen Boullosa is one of Mexico’s
family home. Lily becomes infatuated with NOMINATED BY: leading writers. The author of over a dozen
this wild, makeshift family and longs to Liechtenstein National Library, Vaduz novels that have received numerous prizes
truly be a part of it. and honors, her work has been translated
A sideways view
As the years pass, Lily observes into several languages. She lives in
of the “coming of
the way the lives of these artists come Brooklyn and Mexico City.
age” experience,
to reflect the same themes as their art:
Rapids is the story
Faustian bargains and spectacular falls
of a young man The Miniaturist
from grace. Yet it’s not Evan, but his own
who moves to a by Jessie Burton
daughters, who pay the price for his
strange city and
radicalism. NOMINATED BY:
finds himself lost in
The Strays is an engrossing story Městská knihovna v Praze, Czech Republic
its warren of streets
of ambition, sacrifice and compromised Cork City Libraries, Ireland
and squares. He is
loyalties. Timaru District Libraries, New Zealand
looking for his own
Library of Birmingham, UK
Emily Bitto has a Masters in Literary identity – personal,
Newcastle Libraries, UK
Studies and a PhD in Creative Writing from political, and sexual. A series of encounters
the University of Melbourne, where she is culminates with his meeting Anja: a strong, On an autumn day
a sessional teacher and supervisor in the older woman, stuck in a relationship with in 1686, eighteen-
creative writing program. Her debut novel, another man she cannot bring herself to year-old Nella
The Strays, was shortlisted for the 2013 leave. Anja becomes an anchor for the Oortman knocks
Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an young man, yet their relationship must at the door of a
Unpublished Manuscript. remain a secret – and when that secret grand house in the
finally comes to light, their troubles begin. wealthiest quarter
of Amsterdam. She
Life Drawing Patrick Boltshauser is a playwright
has come from the
by Robin Black and novelist. Born in 1971 in St. Gallen,
country to begin
Switzerland, he grew up in Schaan,
NOMINATED BY: a new life as the
Liechtenstein. Since 1996, several of his
The Free Library of Philadelphia, USA wife of illustrious
plays have been performed in Austria,
merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but
Augusta Edelman – Germany, Switzerland, and Poland.
instead she is met by his sharp-tongued
Gus to her friends – Rapids is his first novel.
sister, Marin. Later Johannes presents
is a painter, a wife,
her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a
and not always the
Texas: The Great Theft cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is
best judge of her
by Carmen Boullosa to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist,
own choices – one
Translated from the Spanish by whose tiny creations mirror their real-life
of them bad enough
Samantha Schnee counterparts in unexpected ways...
that she and her
Nella is at first mystified by the closed
husband, Owen, NOMINATED BY:
world of the Brandt household, but as
have fled their Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, El Colegio
she uncovers its secrets she realizes the
longtime city home de México A.C., Mexico City
escalating dangers that await them all.
and its reminders
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 7
Jessie Burton was born in 1982. She manages to bluff his way to a friendship the first Catalan television series, followed
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
studied at Oxford University and the with the paterfamilias. With his feet by numerous other shows.
Central School of Speech and Drama, and under the table at the beautiful Sigerius
has worked as an actress and a PA in the farmhouse, Aaron feels part of the family. A
Outlaws
City. She now lives in south-east London, perfect family.
by Javier Cercas
not far from where she grew up. Until, that is, things start to go
Translated from the Spanish by
wrong in a very big way. A cataclysmic
Anne McLean
explosion in a firework factory, the advent
Ghost Moon
of internet pornography, the reappearance NOMINATED BY:
by Ron Butlin
of a forgotten murderer and a jet-black- Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge, Belgium
NOMINATED BY: wig all play a role in the spectacular Biblioteca Vila de Gràcia, Biblioteques de
Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Switzerland fragmentation of the Sigerius clan... and of Barcelona, Spain
Aaron’s fragile psyche. Universitätsbibliothek Bern, Switzerland
Having been
thrown out onto the Peter Buwalda is a Dutch novelist, In the late 1970s,
Edinburgh streets formerly a journalist, editor at several as Spain was
by her family, publishers, and founder of the literary adrift between the
Maggie knows music magazine Wah-Wah. Bonita Avenue, death of Franco
she must fight to his award-winning debut novel, spent two and the rebirth of
survive. Many years years on the bestseller lists, and has since democracy, people
later, the struggles been translated into seven languages. were moving from
she had to endure the poor south to
can be kept a secret the cities of the
Confessions
no longer. north in search of
by Jaume Cabré
Set mostly in post- a better life. But
Translated from the Catalan by
war Britain and inspired by a real-life story, the work, when
Mara Faye Lethem
Ghost Moon is narrated with humour and there was any, was poorly paid and the
compassion. A life-affirming read. NOMINATED BY: housing squalid. One summer’s day in
Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna im. Gerona a bespectacled, sixteen-year-old
With an international reputation as a
Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego w Łodzi, Ignacio Cañas is working in an amusement
prize-winning novelist, Ron Butlin is also
Poland arcade, when a charismatic teenager
the Edinburgh Makar poet laureate. Much
Bibliothèques Municipales Genève, walks in with the most beautiful girl Cañas
of his poetry, as well as many of his novels
Switzerland has ever seen. Zarco and Tere take over
and short stories have been broadcast
his pinball machine and his life. Thirty
and translated into over ten languages. At 60, Adrià Ardèvol
years on and now a successful criminal
In addition to his plays for BBC radio and re-examines his life
defence lawyer, Cañas has tried to put
theatre, he has written five operas, two of before his memory
that long, hot summer of drugs, yearning
them for Scottish Opera. is systematically
and delinquency behind him. But when
deleted. He recalls
Tere appears in his office and asks him to
a loveless childhood
Bonita Avenue represent El Zarco, who has been in prison
where the family
by Peter Buwalda all this time, what else can Cañas do but
antique business
Translated from the Dutch by accept.
and his father’s
Jonathan Reeder
study become the Javier Cercas is a lecturer in Spanish
NOMINATED BY: centre of his world. Literature at the University of Girona. He is
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, His mother, a cold, the author of Outlaws, The Tenant and The
The Netherlands distant and pragmatic woman leaves him Motive, The Anatomy of a Moment, Soldiers
De Bibliotheek Eindhoven, to his solitary games, full of unwanted of Salamis and The Speed of Light.
The Netherlands questions. An accident ends the life of
The Libraries of The Hague, his enigmatic father, filling Adrià’s world
Gutenberg’s Apprentice
The Netherlands with guilt, secrets and deeply troubling
by Alix Christie
De Bibliotheek Utrecht, The Netherlands mysteries that take him years to uncover
and driving him deep into the past where NOMINATED BY:
A darkly
atrocities are methodically exposed and San José Public Library, USA
hilarious tale of
examined. Gliding effortlessly between
a model family’s
centuries, and at the same time providing
disintegration.
a powerful narrative, mysterious, tragic,
Professor Siem
humorous and gloriously readable,
Sigerius – maths
Confessions reaches a crescendo that
genius, jazz lover,
provides one of the most startling
judo champion,
dénouements in contemporary literature.
Renaissance man.
When Aaron meets Jaume Cabré is a Catalan philologist,
his girlfriend Joni’s novelist and screenwriter. For many years
family for the he has combined literary writing with
first time, her multitalented father could teaching. He has also worked in television
hardly be a more intimidating figure, but and cinema. He collaborated with Joaquim
somehow the underachieving photographer Maria Puyal as creator and scriptwriter of
8 www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
Youthful, ambitious But when a local murder tied to the cartel waves through the lives of ordinary and
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
Peter Schoeffer implicates a friend, Ladydi’s future takes extraordinary South Africans alike.
is on the verge a dark turn. Despite the odds against Playwrights, politicians, philosophers,
of professional her, this spirited heroine’s resilience and thieves, all caught in their individual
success as a scribe and resolve bring hope to otherwise stories, burst from the pages of Imraan
when his foster heartbreaking conditions. Coovadia’s Tales of the Metric System as it
father, Johann measures South Africa’s modern history in
Jennifer Clement is the author of multiple
Fust, summons its own remarkable units of imagination.
books, including Widow Basquiat. She was
him home to meet
awarded the NEA Fellowship for Literature Imraan Coovadia was born in Durban in
“a most amazing
and the Sara Curry Humanitarian Award 1970. He is the author of the novels The
man.”
for Prayers for the Stolen. Formerly Wedding, Green-Eyed Thieves, High Low
Johann Gutenberg,
president of PEN Mexico, she currently In-between, and The Institute for Taxi Poetry.
a driven and caustic inventor, has
lives in Mexico City His work has won the Sunday Times Fiction
devised a revolutionary – and to some,
Prize, the University of Johannesburg
blasphemous – method of bookmaking:
Prize, the M-Net Prize, and a South African
a machine he calls a printing press. Fust Adultery by Paulo Coelho
Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He is a
is financing Gutenberg’s workshop and Translated from the Portuguese by Margaret
graduate of Harvard College and directs
he orders Peter to become Gutenberg’s Jull Costa & Zoë Perry
the writing programme at the University of
apprentice. Resentful at having to abandon
NOMINATED BY: Cape Town.
a prestigious career as a scribe, Peter
Galway County Library, Ireland
begins his education in the “darkest art.”
Jacksonville Public Library, USA
As his skill grows, so, too, does Academy Street
his admiration for Gutenberg and his by Mary Costello
“I want to change.
dedication to their daring venture: copies of
I need to change. NOMINATED BY:
the Holy Bible. But mechanical difficulties
I’m gradually losing Dublin City Public Libraries, Ireland
and the crushing power of the Catholic
touch with myself.” Galway County Library, Ireland
Church threaten their work…
Adultery, the Limerick City & County Libraries, Ireland
provocative new Waterford City & County Libraries, Ireland
Alix Christie is an author, journalist, and
novel by Paulo Christchurch City Libraries, New Zealand
letterpress printer. She learned the craft
Coelho, explores
as an apprentice to two master California Growing up in the
the question of
printers, and owns and operates a 1910 west of Ireland in
what it means to
Chandler & Price letterpress. She lives in the 1940s Tess is
live life fully and
London, where she reviews books and arts a shy introverted
happily, finding
for The Economist. Gutenberg’s Apprentice child. But beneath
the balance between life’s routine and the
is her first novel. her quiet exterior
desire for something new.
lies a heart of fire.
One of the most influential writers of our A fire that will later
Prayers for the Stolen
time, Paulo Coelho is the author of many drive her to make
by Jennifer Clement
international best sellers, including The her home among
NOMINATED BY: Alchemist, Aleph, Eleven Minutes, and the hurly burly of
Stadtbüchereien Manuscript Found in Accra. Translated into 1960s New York.
Düsseldorf, Germany 80 languages, his books have sold more Over four decades and a life lived with
than 165 million copies in more than 170 quiet intensity on Academy Street in Upper
Ladydi Garcia
countries. In 2007, he was named a United Manhattan, Tess encounters ferocious love
Martínez is fierce,
Nations Messenger of Peace. and calamitous loss. But what endures is
funny and smart.
her bravery and fortitude, and her striking
She was born into
insights even as she is ‘floating close
a world where Tales of the Metric System
to hazard.’
being a girl is a by Imraan Coovadia
Joyous and heart-breaking, restrained
dangerous thing. In
NOMINATED BY: but sweeping, this is a profoundly moving
Guerrero the drug
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Library story that charts one woman’s quest for
lords are kings, and
& Information Service, South Africa belonging amid the dazzle and tumult of
mothers disguise
America’s greatest city.
their daughters as From a Natal
sons, or when that boarding school Mary Costello grew up in County Galway.
fails they “make them ugly” – cropping in the seventies Her collection of short stories, The China
their hair, blackening their teeth- anything and Soviet spies Factory, was nominated for the Guardian
to protect them from the rapacious grasp in London in the First Book Award. Her stories have been
of the cartels. And when the black SUVs eighties to the 1995 published in various anthologies and
roll through town, Ladydi and her friends Rugby World Cup broadcast on radio. She lives in Dublin.
burrow into holes in their backyards like and intrigue in the
animals, tucked safely out of sight. Union Buildings,
When Ladydi is offered work as a Tales of the Metric
nanny for a wealthy family in Acapulco, System shows
she seizes the chance, and finds her first how ten days
taste of love with a young caretaker there. spread across four decades send tidal
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 9
Sweetland song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is At seven years old,
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
by Michael Crummey seriously ill. Barrett turns unexpectedly to Millie Bird realises
religion, while Tyler grows convinced that that everything is
NOMINATED BY: only drugs can release his creative powers. dying around her.
Edmonton Public Library, Canada The Snow Queen is beautiful and She wasn’t to know
Ottawa Public Library, Canada heartbreaking, comic and tragic. that after she had
Saint John Free Public Library, Canada recorded twenty-
Newfoundland & Labrador Public Michael Cunningham was raised in Los
seven assorted
Libraries, Canada Angeles and now lives in New York. His
creatures in her
first novel A Home at the End of the World
For twelve Book of Dead Things
was published in 1990, and his second,
generations, her dad would be a
Flesh and Blood in 1995. The Hours was
when the fish Dead Thing, too.
awarded both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
were plentiful and Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and has
and the PEN/Faulkner Award and made
when they all-but not left her house since her husband died.
into an internationally acclaimed, Oscar-
disappeared, the She sits behind her front window, hidden
winning film. He lives in New York
inhabitants of this by the curtains and ivy, and shouts at
remote island in passers-by, roaring her anger at complete
Newfoundland Outline strangers. Until the day Agatha spies a
have lived and by Rachel Cusk young girl across the street.
died together. Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven
NOMINATED BY:
Now, in the second when his son kisses him on the cheek
Liverpool City Libraries, UK
decade of the 21st century, they are facing before leaving him at the nursing home.
resettlement, and each has been offered a A woman arrives As he watches his son leave, Karl has a
generous compensation package to leave. in Athens in the moment of clarity. He escapes the home
But the money is offered with a proviso: height of summer and takes off in search of something
everyone has to go. to teach a writing different.
Moses Sweetland refuses to leave. course. Once there, Millie, Agatha and Karl are about to
But in the face of determined, sometimes she becomes the break the rules and discover what living is
violent, opposition from his family and his audience to a chain all about.
friends, he is eventually swayed to sign on of narratives as the
Brooke Davis grew up in Bellbrae, Victoria.
to the government’s plan. Then a tragic people she meets
Lost & Found is her first novel, and she was
accident prompts him to fake his own tell her one after
lucky to write it as part of a PhD at Curtin
death and stay on the deserted island. As another the stories
University in Perth, Western Australia. Lost
he manages a desperately diminishing food of their lives.
& Found proved to be the buzz book of the
supply, and battles against the ravages Beginning with the neighbouring
2014 London Book Fair and the translation
of weather, Sweetland finds himself in passenger on the flight out and his
rights have since been sold into twenty-five
the company of the vibrant ghosts of the tales of fast boats and failed marriages,
countries.
former islanders, whose porch lights still the storytellers talk of their loves and
seem to turn on at night. ambitions and pains, their anxieties, their
Michael Crummey is the author of four
perceptions and daily lives. In the stifling News from Berlin
heat and noise of the city the sequence of by Otto de Kat
books of poetry and a book of short stories, voices begins to weave a complex human Translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke
Flesh and Blood. His novel Galore won the tapestry: the experience of loss, the nature
2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best of family life, the difficulty of intimacy and NOMINATED BY:
Novel and was a finalist for the Governor the mystery of creativity itself. The Libraries of The Hague,
General’s Literary Awards. The Netherlands
Rachel Cusk was born in 1967 and is the
author of seven novels: Saving Agnes, The June 1941. Dutch
The Snow Queen Temporary, The Country Life, The Lucky diplomat Oscar
by Michael Cunningham Ones, In the Fold, Arlington Park, and The Verschuur has been
Bradshaw Variations. Her non-fiction books posted to neutral
NOMINATED BY:
are A Life’s Work, The Last Supper and Switzerland. His
Bibliotheken der Stadt Mainz, Germany
Aftermath. In 2003 she was chosen as one family is spread
Universitätsbibliothek Bern, Switzerland
of Granta’s Best of Young Novelists. across Europe. His
Walking through wife Kate works as
Central Park, a nurse in London
Barrett Meeks Lost & Found and their daughter
sees a translucent by Brooke Davis Emma is living in
light in the sky that NOMINATED BY: Berlin with her
regards him in a The State Library of Western Australia, husband Carl, a ‘good’ German who works
distinctly godlike Perth at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
way. Barrett doesn’t Briefly reunited with her father in
believe in visions a restaurant in Geneva, Emma drops a
– or in God – but bombshell. A date and a codename, and
he can’t deny what the fate of nations is placed in Verschuur’s
he’s seen. In nearby hands: June 22, Barbarossa.
Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett’s older brother, is What should he do? Warn the world,
trying – and failing – to write a wedding
10 www.dublinliteraryaward.ieor put his daughter’s safety first? The challenge familiar notions of victim and All the Light We Cannot See
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
Gestapo are watching them both. And with criminal, innocence and guilt, honesty and by Anthony Doerr
Stalin lulled by his alliance with Hitler, will corruption—ultimately revealing shocking
anyone even listen? secrets of her own. NOMINATED BY:
The Enchanted reminds us of how Calgary Public Library, Canada,
Otto de Kat is fast gaining a reputation as Stadtbücherei Frankfurt am
our humanity connects us all, and how
one of Europe’s sharpest and most lucid Main, Germany
beauty and love exist even amidst the most
writers. News from Berlin, a book for all Leipziger Stadtische
nightmarish reality.
readers, a true page-turner driven by the Bibliotheken, Germany
pulse of a ticking clock, confirms him as a Rene Denfeld is an author, journalist, and Veria Central Public Library, Greece
storyteller of subtly extravagant gifts. death penalty investigator. She has written Galway County Library, Ireland
for the New York Times Magazine, the de Bibliotheek Rotterdam,
Oregonian, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Netherlands
Tiger Milk
and is the author of four nonfiction books. Pikes Peak Library District, USA
by Stefanie de Velasco
Translated from the German by Tim Mohr Richland Library Columbia, USA
The Truth About the Harry New Hampshire State Library USA
NOMINATED BY: Denver Public Library, USA
Quebert Affair
Leipziger Stadtische Bibliotheken, Houston Public Library, USA
by Joël Dicker
Germany The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, USA
Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
Nini and Jameelah San José Public Library, USA
NOMINATED BY: Lincoln Library Springfield, USA
are best friends
Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge, Belgium
forever. This
Gradska Knjiznica Rijeka, Croatia Marie-Laure lives
summer they’re
Katona József Library of Bács-Kiskun with her father
going to grow up.
county Kecskemét, Hungary in Paris near
Together. On their
Borgarbókasafn Reykjavíkur, Iceland the Museum of
terms. But things
don’t always turn Natural History,
August 30, 1975. where he works as
out the way you
The day of the the master of its
plan…
disappearance. The thousands of locks.
This is a
day Somerset, New When she is six,
tender, funny and
Hampshire, lost its Marie-Laure goes
tragic story about two fourteen-year-
innocence. blind. When she is
old girls on the loose during a long, hot
That summer, twelve, the Nazis
summer in Berlin. Tiger Milk captures what
struggling author occupy Paris and father and daughter flee
it is to be young.
Harry Quebert fell to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where
Stefanie de Velasco lives and works in in love with fifteen- Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives
Berlin. In 2011, she received the Literature year-old Nola in a tall house by the sea. With them they
Prize Prenzlauer Berg for the first chapters Kellergan. Thirty- carry what might be the museum’s most
of Tiger Milk which is her first novel. three years later, her body is dug up from valuable and dangerous jewel.
his yard, along with a manuscript copy In a mining town in Germany, the
of the novel that made him a household orphan Werner grows up with his younger
The Enchanted
name. Quebert is the only suspect. sister, enchanted by a crude radio they
by Rene Denfeld
Marcus Goldman – Quebert’s most find. Werner becomes an expert at building
NOMINATED BY: gifted protégé – throws off his writer’s and fixing these crucial new instruments,
Chicago Public Library, USA block to clear his mentor’s name. Solving a talent that wins him a place at a brutal
the case and penning a new bestseller academy for Hitler Youth, then a special
“This is an
soon merge into one. As his book begins assignment to track the resistance.
enchanted place.
to take on a life of its own, the nation is More and more aware of the human cost
Others don’t see
gripped by the mystery of ‘The Girl Who of his intelligence, Werner travels through
it, but I do.” The
Touched the Heart of America.’ the heart of the war and, finally, into
enchanted place is
But with Nola, in death as in life, Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-
an ancient stone
nothing is ever as it seems. Laure’s converge.
prison, viewed
through the eyes of Joël Dicker was born in Geneva in 1985. Anthony Doerr is the author of two story
a death row inmate His first novel, Les Derniers Jours de Nos collections Memory Wall and The Shell
who finds escape Pères, won the Prix des Ecrivains Genevois, Collector, the novel About Grace, and the
in his books and a prestigious award for unpublished memoir Four Seasons in Rome. All the Light
in re-imagining manuscripts. The Truth About the Harry We Cannot See was awarded the Pulitzer
life around him, weaving a fantastical Quebert Affair has sold more than two Prize in 2015. He lives in Boise, Idaho, with
story of the people he observes and the million copies across Europe. his wife and two sons.
world he inhabits. Two outsiders venture
here: a fallen priest and the Lady, an
investigator who searches for buried
information from prisoners’ pasts that can
save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging
into the background of a killer named
York, she uncovers wrenching truths that
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 11The Avenue of the Giants carnage of trench warfare. Your Fathers, Where Are They?
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
by Marc Dugain With the delicacy of a miniaturist And the Prophets, Do They Live
Translated from the French by Howard Curtis Echenoz offers us an intimate epic: in the Forever?
panorama of a clear blue sky, a biplane by Dave Eggers
NOMINATED BY: spirals suddenly into the ground; a piece of
Bibliothèques Municipales shrapnel shears the top off a man’s head NOMINATED BY:
Genève, Switzerland as if it were a soft-boiled egg; we dawdle Bibliotheken der Stadt Mainz, Germany
dreamily in a spring-scented clearing with Your Fathers, Where
Inspired by the true
a lonely shell-shocked soldier strolling Are They? And the
story of California
innocently toward a firing squad ready to Prophets, Do They
“Co-ed Killer”
shoot him for desertion. Live Forever? is
Edmund Kemper,
Ultimately, the grace notes of Dave Eggers’s
The Avenue of the
humanity in 1914 rise above the terrors story of one man
Giants follows
of war in this beautifully crafted tale that struggling to make
Al Kenner as
Echenoz tells with discretion, precision, sense of the world.
he progresses
and love. In a barracks
from antisocial
adolescent to full- Jean Echenoz won France’s prestigious on an abandoned
fledged serial killer Prix Goncourt for I’m Gone. He is the author military base, miles
in the turbulent of eleven novels in English translation – from the nearest
60s and 70s. A giant at over seven feet tall including Big Blondes, Lightning, Piano, road, Thomas watches as the man he has
with an IQ higher than Einstein’s, Al has Ravel, and Running – and the winner of brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut,
never been ordinary. Tainted by his parents’ numerous literary prizes. He lives in Paris. doesn’t recognize his captor, though
divorce and his mother’s abusive behavior, Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for
his life takes a chilling turn on the day of help. He pulls at the chain. But the ocean
John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Al spends
Kamal Jann is close by, and nobody can hear him over
five years in a psychiatric hospital, and
by Dominique Eddé the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes.
Translated from the French by He didn’t want to have to resort to this. But
although he convinces the staff that he
Ros Schwartz they really needed to have a conversation,
is of sound mind, he continues to harbor
vicious impulses. Al leads a double life, NOMINATED BY: and Kev didn’t answer his messages. And
befriending the Santa Cruz Police Chief Los Angeles Public Library, USA now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas
and contemplating marrying his daughter, has a few questions.
Kamal Jann, a
all the while committing a series of brutal Dave Eggers is the author of nine books,
successful lawyer
murders. Delving into the mind of this including most recently The Circle and
in New York City,
complex killer, Marc Dugain powerfully A Hologram for the King, which was a
has a troubled past
evokes an America torn between the finalist for the 2012 National Book Award.
unseen to most.
pacifism of the hippie movement and He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an
When he was a
the violence of Vietnam. independent publishing company based
boy in Syria, his
Born in Senegal in 1957, Marc Dugain is uncle, the head in San Francisco. He lives in Northern
the author of numerous successful novels. of the Syrian CIA, California with his family.
His novel The Officers’ Ward recounts his had his parents
grandfather’s experiences in World War killed, leaving
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
I and was made into a 2001 film of the Kamal orphaned
by Davide Enia
same name. at the age of twelve. In a twisted attempt
Translated from the Italian
for forgiveness, and as insurance against
by Antony Shugaar
retaliation, Kamal’s uncle paid for his
1914
education. Now living in Manhattan, Kamal NOMINATED BY:
by Jean Echenoz
receives news that his uncle is planning a Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di
Translated from the French by
terrorist attack on Paris and has recruited Roma, Italy
Linda Coverdale
Kamal’s jihadist brother to carry it out.
Summer, Palermo,
NOMINATED BY: To save his brother, and ultimately avenge
early 1980s. The
Los Angeles Public Library, USA his parent’s murder, Kamal enters into
Mafia-ruled city is
Free Library of Philadelphia, USA a dangerous pact with his uncle.
a powder keg ready
Alliances, damaged lives, impossible
Five Frenchmen to ignite. In a boxing
loves, and deep betrayals unfold as the
go off to war, two gym, a fatherless
family relationships erode, echoing the
of them leaving nine-year-old boy
conflicts that tear apart the countries
behind a young climbs into the
around them in the Middle East.
woman who longs ring to face his first
for their return. Born in Lebanon, Dominique Eddé is the opponent.
But the main author of several novels as well as an essay So begins On Earth
character in this on Jean Genet and a book of interviews with as It Is in Heaven,
brilliant novel is the the psychoanalyst André Green. In 1991, she a sweeping multigenerational saga that
Great War itself. curated and published the photographic reaches back to the collapse of the Italian
Echenoz leads project ‘Beirut City Centre’ featuring, in front in North Africa and forward to young
us gently from a particular, the work of Robert Frank and Davidù’s quest to become Italy’s national
balmy summer day deep into the relentless Joseph Koudelka. She lives in Turkey. boxing champion, a feat that has eluded
12 www.dublinliteraryaward.iethe other men of his family. The Book of Strange New Things spellbinding, rebellious gypsy – the two
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
A meditation on physical violence, love by Michel Faber women become inseparable. Caridad is
and sex, friendship and betrayal, boxing swept into an exotic fringe society full of
and ambition, Enia’s novel is a coming-of- NOMINATED BY: romance and art, passion and dancing.
age tale that speaks – sometimes crudely, Stockholm Public Library, Sweden But their way of life changes instantly
but always honestly – about the joys and Denver Public Library, USA when gypsies are declared outlaws by
terrors of becoming a man. It begins with Peter, royal mandate and their world as a free
a devoted man of people becomes perilous. The community
Davide Enia was born in Palermo. He has
faith, as he is called is split up – some are imprisoned, some
written, directed, and performed in plays
to the mission of a forced into hiding, all fearing for their
for the stage and the radio, and has been
lifetime, one that lives. After a dangerous separation,
honored with the Ubu Prize, the Tondelli
takes him galaxies Caridad and Milagros are reunited and
Award, and the ETI Award, Italy’s three
away from his join in the gypsies’ struggle for sovereignty
most prestigious theater prizes. He lives
wife, Bea. Peter against the widespread oppression. It’s a
and cooks in Rome. On Earth as It Is in
becomes immersed treacherous battle that cannot, and will
Heaven is his first novel.
in the mysteries not, be easily won.
of an astonishing Ildefonso Falcones is a lawyer and
The End of Days new environment, internationally bestselling and award-
by Jenny Erpenbeck overseen by an enigmatic corporation winning author of Cathedral of the Sea and
Translated from the German by known only as USIC. His work introduces The Hand of Fatima. With over 7 million
Susan Bernofsky him to a seemingly friendly native copies sold, his work has been translated
NOMINATED BY: population struggling with a dangerous into more than 40 languages worldwide. He
Zentral-u. Landesbibliothek Berlin, illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings lives in Barcelona with his family.
Germany – his Bible is their “book of strange new
Stadtbibliothek Bremen, Germany things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s
letters from home become increasingly I Called Him Necktie
Münchner Stadtbibliothek, Germany
desperate: typhoons and earthquakes by Milena Michiko Flašar
Dublin City Public Libraries, Ireland
are devastating whole countries, and Translated from the German by Sheila Dickie
Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Switzerland
governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, NOMINATED BY:
‘We are born and once the guiding light of their lives, begins Vienna Public Library, Austria
we die – but many to falter.
things could happen While Peter is reconciling the needs Twenty-year-old
in between. Which of his congregation with the desires of his Taguchi Hiro has
life do we end up strange employer, Bea is struggling for spent the last
living?’ survival. Their trials lay bare a profound two years of his
From one meditation on faith, love tested beyond life living as a
of the most endurance, and our responsibility to those hikikomori - a
daring voices in closest to us. shut-in who never
European fiction, leaves his room
this is a story of the Michel Faber has written seven other and has no human
twentieth century books, including the highly acclaimed The interaction - in
traced through the various possible lives of Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit his parents’ home
one woman. She is a baby who suffocates Twins and the Whitbread-shortlisted in Tokyo. As Hiro
in the cradle. Or she lives to become novel Under the Skin. Born in Holland, tentatively decides to re-enter the world, he
an adult and dies beloved. Or she dies brought up in Australia, he lives in the spends his days observing life around him
betrayed. Or her memory is honoured. Scottish Highlands. from a park bench. Gradually he makes
Or she is forgotten by everyone. Moving friends with Ohara Tetsu, a middle-aged
from a small Galician town at the turn of The Barefoot Queen salaryman who has lost his job but can’t
the century, through pre-war Vienna and by Ildefonso Falcones bring himself to tell his wife, and shows
Stalin’s Moscow to present-day Berlin, Translated from the Spanish by up every day in a suit and tie to pass the
Jenny Erpenbeck hones in on the moments Mara Faye Lethem time on a nearby bench. As Hiro and Tetsu
when life follows a particular branch cautiously open up to each other, they
and ‘fate’ suddenly emerges from the sly NOMINATED BY: discover in their sadness a common bond.
interplay between history, character and de Bibliotheek Rotterdam, Regrets and disappointments, as well as
pure chance. The Netherlands hopes and dreams, come to the surface
Fully alive with ambition and ideas, Spain, 1748. until both find the strength to somehow
The End of Days is a novel that pulls apart Caridad is a give a new start to their lives
the threads of destiny and allows us to see recently freed Milena Michiko Flašar was born in 1980,
the present and the past anew. Cuban slave the daughter of a Japanese mother and an
Jenny Erpenbeck was born in East Berlin wandering the Austrian father. She lives in Vienna. I Called
in 1967. She has worked on opera and streets of Seville. Him Necktie won the 2012 Austrian Alpha
musical productions and her fiction has Her master is Literature Prize.
been translated worldwide. She is the author dead and she has
of The Old Child & The Book of Words, and nowhere to go.
Visitation. When, by chance,
she meets Milagros
Carmona – a
www.dublinliteraryaward.ie 13The Silkworm – not just about his grandfather, but also The Great War
2016 ELIGIBLE TITLES
by Robert Galbraith about himself. is a novel that
comprehensively
NOMINATED BY: Daniel Galera was born in Sao Paulo
and passionately
Městská knihovna v Praze, Czech Republic in 1979. He co-founded the influential
narrates a number
Bibliotheque Municipale a Vocation publishing house Livros do Mal, and has
of stories covering
Régionale de Nice, France translated David Foster Wallace, Zadie
the duration of
Smith and Irvine Welsh into Brazilian
When novelist Owen World War One,
Portuguese. He has published a collection
Quine goes missing, starting with the
of short stories and three novels, as well
his wife calls in year 1914 – the
as an acclaimed graphic novel with Rafael
private detective year that truly
Coutinho.
Cormoran Strike. marked the beginning of the twentieth
At first, she just century. Following the destinies of over
thinks he has gone Who is Martha? seventy characters, on all warring sides,
off by himself by Marjana Gaponenko Gatalica depicts the experiences of winners
for a few days – Translated from the German by and losers, generals and opera singers,
as he has done Arabella Spencer soldiers and spies; managing to grasp
before – and she the atmosphere of the entire epoch, not
NOMINATED BY:
wants Strike only of these crucial four and a half bloody
Vienna Public Library, Austria
to find him and bring him home. years, but also in the innocent decades that
But as Strike investigates, it becomes In this rollicking preceded the war, and the poisoned ones
clear that there is more to Quine’s novel, 96-year-old that followed.
disappearance than his wife realises. The ornithologist Luka The stories themselves are various
novelist has just completed a manuscript Levadski foregoes but equally important: here we find joyful
featuring poisonous pen-portraits of treatment for lung as well as tragic destinies, along with
almost everyone he knows. If the novel cancer and moves examples of exceptional heroism. Yet The
were published it would ruin lives – so from Ukraine to Great War never becomes a chronicle,
there are a lot of people who might want to Vienna to make nor a typical historical novel; above all it
silence him. a grand exit in a is a work of art that uses historic events
And when Quine is found brutally luxury suite at the as means to tell stirring stories with
murdered in bizarre circumstances, it Hotel Imperial. unbelievable and unthinkable convolutions.
becomes a race against time to understand He reflects on his
Aleksandar Gatalica has published five
the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer past while indulging in Viennese cakes and
novels to date. Most significant are: The
unlike any he has encountered before… savoring music in a gilded concert hall.
Lines of Life, The Invisible and The Great
Levadski was born in 1914, the same year
Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. War which was the best selling book in
that Martha – the last of the now-extinct
Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, 2013 in Serbia. He is also a translator from
passenger pigeons – died. Levadski himself
The Casual Vacancy and the first Cormoran Ancient Greek, and an active music critic
has an acute sense of being the last of a
Strike novel The Cuckoo’s Calling. and writer.
species. He befriends a hotel butler and
another elderly guest, who also doesn’t
Blood-Drenched Beard have much time left, to share in the lively The Hilltop
by Daniel Galera escapades of his final days. This gloriously by Assaf Gavron
Translated from the Portuguese by written tale, in which Levadski feels “his Translated from the Hebrew by Steven Cohen
Alison Entrekin heart pounding at the portals of his brain,”
NOMINATED BY:
mixes piquant wit with lofty musings about
NOMINATED BY: Universitäts-und Landesbibliothek Bonn,
life, friendship, aging and death.
Biblioteca Demonstrativa Maria da Germany
Conceição Moreira Salles / Fundação Marjana Gaponenko was born in 1981
On a rocky,
Biblioteca Nacional Brasila, Brazil in Odessa, Ukraine. She has a degree in
beautiful hilltop
German studies from Odessa University.
His father shoots stands Ma’aleh
Who is Martha? is her second novel and
himself, and all Hermesh C,
was awarded the Adelbert von Chamisso
he’s left with is the a fledgling
Prize in 2013. She lives in Vienna
old cattle dog and community flying
and Mainz.
a vague desire for under the radar.
explanation. He On this contested
loves swimming The Great War land, Othniel
so he drifts south by Aleksandar Gatalica Assis – under
to Garopaba, a Translated from the Serbian by Will Firth the wary gaze of
quiet little town the neighboring
NOMINATED BY:
on the Brazilian Palestinian village – plants asparagus,
JU Gradska biblioteka I čitaonica
coast, where his arugula, and cherry tomatoes, and he
Herceg-Novi, Montenegro
grandfather disappeared in mysterious, installs goats – and his ever-expanding
possibly brutal, circumstances decades family. As Othniel cheerfully manipulates
before. government agencies, more settlers arrive,
There, in the midst of romantic flings and, amid a hodge-podge of shipping
and occasional trips, he comes to discover containers and mobile homes, the outpost
more than he could ever have imagined takes root.
14 www.dublinliteraryaward.ieYou can also read
