Dubs urged to borrow award nominated books

DUBLINERS are
being urged to borrow novels that have been nominated for the world’s most
valuable annual literary prize.

Three Irish
novels are among the 147 titles nominated by libraries worldwide for the 2012
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award that’s worth

?¬100,000.

The competition
was launched at a recent ceremony in the Dublin City Library & Archive by
Lord Mayor Andrew Montague, who is patron of the award.

The three
nominated Irish books are

‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue,

‘Faithful Place’ by Tana
French and

‘Skippy Dies’ by Paul Murray.

Other novels
nominated for the 2012 Award include

‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’ by Jennifer
Egan, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,

‘The Memory of Love’ by
Animatta Forna, winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and

‘Cool Water’
by Dianne Warren, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction 2010.

The nominations
come from 122 cities and 45 countries worldwide. 34 are titles in translation,
spanning 18 languages and 31 are first novels. The full list is available
online at impacdublinaward.ie.

Irish author
Emma Donoghue’s Room received the greatest number of nominations from libraries
worldwide for the 2012 award with 20 nominations.

Dublin City
Librarian, Margaret Hayes, said that the award is presented annually with the
objective of promoting excellence in world literature.

“The success of
the three Irish authors in being nominated by so many libraries reinforces
Dublin’s UNESCO City of Literature status and,

? she added.

Lord Mayor,
Andrew Montague, urged Dubliners to borrow some of the nominated novels from
their local library.

“You will find
books and authors, particularly those novels in translation that you might
otherwise never come across and you can pick your own favourites, before I
announce the winner on June 13 next year

?, he said.

The shortlist
for the award will be made public on April 12.