Wexford novelist Colm Toíbín has been short-listed for the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards 2001 for his novel, The Blackwater Lightship.
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The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toíbín |
Among the six authors short-listed for the £100,000 prize - the world’s richest - are works translated from Russian and Spanish.
The shortlist was formally announced this afternoon at Waterstones Booksellers in Dublin.
Speaking at the launch the Lord Mayor of Dublin Mr Maurice Ahern said "if you look at the list it is truly international with authors from Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Scotland, Russia and Ireland."
There were 93 nominated works from 34 countries including works in Hungarian, Danish and Norwegian. The winner of the award will be formally announced at Dublin Castle on May 14th.
The formal presentation will be made at the same venue on June 16th.
Born in Enniscorthy Co Wexford in 1955, Toíbín's works include a number of non-fiction titles as well as the novels, The Heather Blazing, The South, and The Story of the Night.
The Blackwater Lightship , a story of morals, manners and culture clashes between three generations of the Deveraux family was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1999.
The judges are; Irish writers Medbh McGuckian and Colum McCann, Indian novelist Amit Chaudhuri, Nigerian-born Buchi Emecheta, and Guyanan Fred D’Aguier. The non-voting chairman of the panel is Allen Weinstein, the president and CEO of the Centre for Democracy in Washington.
Shortlist
- The True History of Paradise, Margaret Cezair-Thompson (Jamaica)
- No Great Mischief, Alistair Macleod (Canada)
- The Love you Promised Me, Syliva Molina (translated from the Spanish by David Unger (Mexico)
- Our Fathers, Andrew O'Hagan (Scotland)
- The Clay Machine-gun, Victor Pelevin (translated from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield (Russia)
- The Blackwater Lightship, Colm Toíbín (Ireland)