THIRTY EMERGING writers, whose first books were published in the last year, have been shortlisted for the Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards 2008.
Shortlisted books from Irish publishers include broadcaster Richard Crowley's No Man's Land: Dispatches from the Middle East, published by Liberties Press; Ronan Kelly's Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore, from Penguin Ireland; and a collection of poems by poet Ciaran Berry, The Sphere of Birds, from The Gallery Press.
Close to 350 books were submitted by book publishers from both Ireland and the UK for inclusion in the competition, which has a total prize fund of €45,000.
The awards, now in their third year and organised in association with the Irish Writers' Centre, have five different categories: fiction, poetry, children's book, biography/non-fiction and books from any genre written in Irish.
The five Irish language books, all by Irish publishers, include four books from publishers Coiscéim: Eoghan Ó Néill's travel book, Cathracha; a poetry collection, Anam Mhadra, by Simon Ó Faoláin; a detective novel by Seán O'Connor called Séan Ruiséal Iníon an Oileáin; and a book about plants by Fergus Ó hÍr, Mórbhealaí Cúlbhealaí.
Also shortlisted in this category is a children's book, Scoil an Chnoic, by Jacqueline de Brún from An Gúm and a collection of songs from one of the great Connemara singers, entitled Ciarán Ó Fátharta - Amhráin, published by Cló Iar-Chonnachta.
Each category winner will receive €5,000, while the overall winner will be awarded a further €20,000 at a gala ceremony next month in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, on November 10th.
"It's a great boost for those first-time authors who make the shortlist," said Cathal McCabe, director of the Irish Writers' Centre when the shortlists were announced yesterday. The publishers who entered "represent the full range of established leading publishers right down to the smaller presses both in Ireland and the UK," he said.
The books were published between the start of July 2007 and the end of June this year. The financial support "is extremely welcome and useful" to young writers, said Mr McCabe. "The other thing is the exposure the shortlist gives on an international platform. These are people who would have published in magazines before and suddenly they are being judged by a very distinguished panel of judges."
The international dimension of the awards means they "are not in any way provincial or parochial", said one of the judges, writer Dermot Bolger. "It's very easy to give awards to writers at the other end of their careers whereas this is for people at the beginning . . . The first award you win is the one that you remember," he said.