48 novels in translation are among 150 titles that have been nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International DUBLIN Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. The novels are by authors from 40 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America & Canada, South America and Australia & New Zealand and have been written in 17 languages.
Organised by Dublin City Council, the 2018 Award was launched yesterday [6th November] by Lord Mayor/Ardmhéara Mícheál MacDonncha, Patron of the Award, who commended the Award for its promotion of excellence in world literature as well as for the opportunity to promote Irish writing internationally. Dublin – a UNESCO City of Literature – is renowned throughout the world as a City of writers. There’s no doubt that our rich literary and cultural life makes Dublin a great destination for tourists, for students, and for overseas businesses. It also makes for a better quality of life for all of us who live and work in our capital. “Is cathair litríochta í Baile Átha Cliath” he said.
The 48 novels have been translated from Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish and come from publishers all over the world.
Translated authors include Han Kang, Roy Jacobsen, Herman Koch, Robert Seethaler, Amos Ozand previous winners, Javier Marías and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. For the first year, translated titles comprise almost exactly one third of the longlist – 32%!
9 of the 22 previous winners of the award have been novels in translation. The author received €75,000 and the translator received €25,000.
The 2018 Judging Panel comprises Vona Groarke, Irish poet and Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester; Xiaolu Guo, Chinese British novelist, essayist and filmmaker; Nicky Harman, translator and co-Chair of the Translators Association; Dr. Mpalive Msiska, author and Reader in English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London and Courttia Newland, novelist and associate lecturer in creative writing at the University of Westminster. The non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan.
The full list of translated titles:
Fredrik Backman- Britt-Marie Was Here – Translated from the original Swedish by Henning Koch
Alessandro Baricco – The Young Bride – Translated from the original Italian by Ann Goldstein
Brit Bildøen – Seven Days in August – Translated from the original Norwegian by Becky L. Crook
Alina Bronsky – Baba Dunja’s Last Love – Translated from the original German by Tim Mohr
Milena Busquets – This Too Shall Pass – Translated from the original Spanish by Valerie Miles
Giuseppe Catozzella – Don’t Tell Me You’re Afraid – Translated from the original Italian – Anne Milano Appel
Álvaro Enrigue – Sudden Death – Translated from the original Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
Dominique Fortier – The Island of Books – Translated from the original French by Rhonda Mullins
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen – Waking Lions – Translated from the original Hebrew by Sondra Silverton
Dörte Hansen – This House is Mine – Translated from the original German by Anne Stokes
Judith Hermann – Where Love Begins – Translated from the original German by Margot Bettauer Dembo
Yuri Herrera – The Transmigration of Bodies – Translated from the original Spanish by Lisa Dillman
Stefan Hertmans – War and Turpentine – Translated from the original Dutch by David McKay
Roy Jacobsen – The Unseen – Translated from the original Norwegian by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw
Han Kang – Human Acts – Translated from the original Korean – Deborah Smith
Christopher Kloeble – Almost Everything Very Fast – Translated from the original German by Aaron Kerner
Josefine Klougart – One of Us is Sleeping – Translated from the original Danish by Martin Aitken
Herman Koch – Dear Mr. M. – Translated from the original Dutch by Sam Garrett
Michael Köhlmeier – Two Gentlemen on the Beach – Translated from the original German by Ruth Martin
Jela Krečič – None Like Her – Translated from the original Slovene by Olivia Hellewell
Catherine Leroux – The Party Wall – Translated from the original French by Lazer Lederhendler
Minna Lindgren – Death in Sunset Grove – Translated from the original Finnish by Lola Rogers
David Machado – The Shelf Life of Happiness – Translated from the original Portuguese by Hillary Locke
Javier Marías – Thus Bad Begins – Translated from the original Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa
Clemens Meyer – Bricks and Mortar – Translated from the original German by Katy Derbyshire
Antonio Moresco – Distant Light – Translated from the original Italian by Richard Dixon
Marie Ndiaye – Ladivine – Translated from the original French by Jordan Stump
Amos Oz – Judas – Translated from the original Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer – La Superba – Translated from the original Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Magdaléna Platzová – The Attempt – Translated from the original Czech by Alex Zucker
Alexandre Vidal Porto – Sergio Y. – Translated from the original Portuguese by Alex Ladd
Ivica Prtenjača – The Hill – Translated from the original Croatian – Tomislav Kuzmanovic
Agnes Ravatn – The Bird Tribunal – Translated from the original Norwegian by Rosie Hedger
Lydie Salvayre – Cry, Mother Spain – Translated from the original French – Ben Faccini
Dušan Šarotar – Panorama – Translated from the original Slovene by Rawley Grau
Robert Seethaler – The Tobacconist – Translated from the original German Charlotte Collins
Maja Herman Sekulić – Ma Belle – Translated from the original Serbian – Persida Boskovic
Yrsa Sigurdardóttir – Why Did You Lie? – Translated from the original Icelandic by Victoria Cribb
Johanna Sinisalo – The Core of the Sun – Translated from the original Finnish by Lola Rogers
Sjón – Moonstone: the boy who never was – Translated from the original Icelandic by Victoria Cribb
Jón Kalman Stefánsson – Fish Have No Feet – Translated from the original Icelandic by Philip Roughton
Dejan Tiago-Stanković – Estoril – Translated from the original Serbian by Christina Pribichevich Zoric
Juan Gabriel Vásquez – Reputations – Translated from the original Spanish by Anne McLean
Peter Verhelst – The Man I Became – Translated from the original Dutch by David Colmer
Dimitri Verhulst – The Latecomer – Translated from the original Dutch by David Colmer
Juan Pablo Villalobos – I’ll Sell You a Dog – Translated from the original Spanish by Rosalind Harvey
Tommy Wieringa – A Beautiful Young Wife – Translated from the original Dutch by Sam Garrett
Alejandro Zambra – Multiple Choice – Translated from the original Spanish by Megan McDowell
Other novels nominated for the 2018 Award include Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien, winner of the 2016 Governor General’s Award for Fiction, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire, finalist for the 2017 Miles Franklin Award.
The book that received most nominations this year is Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, chosen by 15 libraries in Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Sweden and the USA.
All of the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries. The full list of 150 titles is available on www.dublinliteraryaward.ie