The International DUBLIN Literary Award is preparing for its 23rd final in June, and the ten shortlisted books have just been announced.

Only two of the authors are Irish, and that makes up half the English-language originals – the other two are from American and South African authors.

The final six on the shortlist are English-language translations of books from France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Mexico and South Korea.
The prize is worth EUR 100,000 ($122,000) to the English-language original authors if they win, or a split of EUR 75,000 to the author and EUR 25,000 to the translator.
The titles on this year’s shortlist were nominated by public libraries in Canada, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.
The Patron of the Award is Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Ardmhéara, Mícheál Mac Donncha, who explained,

This is the beauty of this award; it reaches out to readers and authors worldwide, while also celebrating excellence in contemporary Irish literature represented on the 2018 shortlist by Eimear McBride and Mike McCormack”.

The shortlisted titles are:

  • Baba Dunja’s Last Love by Alina Bronsky (Ukrainian/German). Translated from the German by Tim Mohr. Published by Europa Editions.
  • The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera (Mexican). Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. Published by And Other Stories.
  • The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen (Norwegian). Translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw. Published by MacLehose Press.
  • Human Acts by Han Kang (South Korean). Translated from Korean by Deborah Smith. Published by Portobello Books and Random House, USA.
  • The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride (Irish). Published by Faber & Faber.
  • Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Irish). Published by Tramp Press.
  • Distant Light by Antonio Moresco (Italian) Translated from Italian by Richard Dixon. Published by Archipelago Books.
  • Ladivine by Marie Ndiaye (French) Translated from French by Jordan Stump. Published by MacLehose Press.
  • The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso (South African/Nigerian/Barbadian). Published by Chatto & Windus.
  • My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (American). Published by Penguin, UK