The 2017 shortlist for the International DUBLIN Literary Award is here, and I’m delighted to see how multilingually international it is. Six of the ten titles are works in translation, and four are by women. Unfortunately the gender distribution isn’t so good among the works in translation – only one of the six translated titles is by a female author, the rest are by men, showing us yet again why we need a prize for women in translation in the U.S. (one was just established in UK, the Warwick Prize). In any case, with a purse of €100,000 (sponsored by the Dublin City Council), this is the biggest prize out there, though the translator of a translated book winning the prize receives “only” €25,000. The 2017 award is for books published in English in 2015. One thing I love about this prize is that the works for the longlist are nominated by 400 libraries from around the world. We all should listen to librarians more.
Behold the shortlist:
- A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa (Angolan) Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn.
- Confession of the Lioness by Mia Couto (Mozambican) Translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw.
- The Green Road by Anne Enright (Irish )
- The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine (Danish/Norwegian) Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.
- The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (Mexican) Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney.
- The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnamese/American) First novel.
- Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (Nigerian-American) First novel.
- A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk (Turkish) Translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap.
- A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (Austrian) Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins.
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (American)
More information on the shortlisted books is available on the International Dublin website. The winner will be announced on June 21, 2017.