The shortlist for the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was just announced. Judges combed through 146 novels, picking the finalists for the £100,000–reportedly “the world’s most valuable literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.”
Last year, Rawi Hage won the award for “De Niro’s Game.” The 2009 shortlist includes:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Dominican / American) Riverhead Books
Ravel by Jean Echenoz (French) in translation. The New Press
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistani / British) Hamish Hamilton / Harcourt / Doubleday Canada
The Archivist’s Story by Travis Holland (American) Dial Press
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen (Norwegian) in translation. John Murray Publishers
The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt (American) Bloomsbury Publishing
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Indian / British) Simon & Schuster
Man Gone Down by Micheal Thomas (American) Grove / Atlantic
(Via Three Percent)
In addition the £10,000 Independent Foreign Fiction shortlist was also announced:
Voiceover by Celine Curiol, translated by Sam Richard from the French
Beijing Coma by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew from the Chinese
The Siege by Ismail Kadare, translated by David Bellos from the Albanian
The Armies by Evelio Rosero, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish
The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish
Friendly Fire by A B Yehoshua, translated by Stuart Schoffman from the Hebrew