The longlist for the Dublin International Literary Award 2023 has been announced in Dublin, Ireland today, Monday, January 30, 2023.
The Dublin International Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English to promote excellence in world literature since. The prize worth €100,000 is sponsored by the Dublin City Council, Ireland. If the winning book is a translation the prize is divided between the writer and the translator, with the writer receiving €75,000 and the translator €25,000. African writers like David Diop and Akwaeke Emezi, Scholastique Mukasonga, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Mahi Binebine, and Aminatta Forna and Noviolet Bulawayo , Mia Couto, Chinelo Okparanta , and Yewande Omotoso have been in the running. The prize went to Angolan author José Eduardo Agualusa for his novel A General Theory of Oblivion in 2017.
The longlist of the prize has been unveiled today with the Patron of the Award, Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Caroline Conroy saying “This year’s Dublin Literary Award longlist is a fascinating chain of stories unifying readers across cultures and countries, more relevant now than ever before. I encourage you to drop into your local library to explore the list over the next few months, it not only rewards the reader but also has the power to transform you too.”
Here are the writers of African descent on the longlist.
- An Unusual Grief, Yewande Omotoso, Cassava Republic Press
- Glory, NoViolet Bulawayo, Chatto & Windus/Vintage
- Loose Ties, Yara Nakahanda Monteiro, Sandra Tamele, Paivapo Publishers
- The Trees: A Novel, Percival Everett, Graywolf Press
- What Strange Paradise, Omar El-Akkad, Alfred A. Knopf (Penguin Random House)
The international panel of judges who will select the shortlist and winner, features Gabriel Gbadamosi who is an Irish and Nigerian poet, playwright and critic based in London; Marie Hermet who is a writer and translator who teaches creative writing and translation at the Université Paris Cité; English writer Sarah Moss who is the author of eight novels and now teaches on the MA and MFA in creative writing at UCD; Doireann Ní Ghríofa who is a bilingual poet, essayist and translator from Co. Clare; and Arunava Sinha who translates fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Bengali to English and from English to Bengali and has won several translation awards in India. The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.
The shortlist will be unveiled on March 28 and the winner will be announced by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Caroline Conroy, on May 25 as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin.
