A hundred books have been selected from entries received from municipal libraries of cities in 32 countries for the 1999 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. At £100,000 the award is the world's richest prize for a single work of fiction in the English language. Irish writers include John Banville, Bernard MacLaverty, Brian Moore and Niall Williams.
The judges will be chaired by Prof Allen Weinstein, historian and winner of the UN Peace Medal. The judges are the writer and translator Julia O'Faolain; the author Andre Brink, of English at the University of Cape Town; the Swedish poet and novelist, Bodil Malsten; the writer and anthologist Alberto Manguel; and Tom Shapcott, professor of creative writing at Adelaide University.