Prof. Chris Morash, Chair of the Judging Panel for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award, introduces this year's shortlist.
As we retreated into our homes over the past year, and the company of a good book became indispensable, libraries did their part in keeping us supplied, finding innovative ways to ensure that their readers continued to have books. I feel sure that when we are finally able to stand back from the pandemic, there will be many unsung heroes come into focus; and librarians will be among them.
All of which is a way of recognising that the past year has been a challenge for library staff – which makes it all the more astounding that, with the world turned upside down, Dublin City Libraries continued the twenty-six year tradition of hosting the Dublin Literary Award. In a world of literary prizes, which seem to multiply every year, the Dublin Literary Award (formerly the IMPAC Award) is unique. Not only is it is the world's richest prize for a single work in English, the novels on the Longlist are nominated by libraries and their readers all over the world. Over the Prize’s history, nominating libraries have ranged from the National Library of Albania in Tirana to Harare City Library, in Zimbabwe (and that’s only to take two ends of a very long alphabetical list).
We're thrilled to share with you the 2021 #DubLitAward Shortlist!
— DUBLIN Literary Award (@DublinLitAward) March 25, 2021
Warmest congrats to our 6 shortlisted authors & translator: @BernardineEvari @ValeriaLuiselli Colum McCann Fernanda Melchor @hughes_sophie @colsonwhitehead
Sponsored @DubCityCouncil
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Of course, it was always going to be more difficult to make this work when the world was in lock-down. So it should come as no surprise that this year’s Longlist – with forty-nine books – was shorter than it had been in previous years (in 2020 there were 156 novels on the Longlist). Accordingly, it was decided to make the 2021 Shortlist a bit shorter. However, if the numbers are lower, the quality of the nominees is just as high as in any year since the Prize was first awarded in 1996.
If there is a common theme running through this year's novels, it centres around protagonists surviving in times of adversity – stories we all need to read these days.
The Shortlist for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award features six remarkable novels. Taking the list in alphabetical sequence, Valeria Luiselli appears with her novel Lost Children Archive (4th Estate/Alfred A. Knopf), nominated by Biblioteca Vila De Gràcia in Barcelona. Described by the judges as an "exhilarating, lyrical road novel and an unsparing meditation on dislocation, remembering, and storytelling", set on the border between the US and Mexico, it is both innovative and moving. The Mexican dimension of this year’s Shortlist continues with Fernanda Melchor’s searing Hurricane Season, a storm of a novel that draws the reader into a dark world in a small Mexican town. Translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes, it is published by the one of the great promoters of literature in translation, Fitzcarraldo Editions, and was nominated by Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, Mexico; Los Angeles Public Library, USA and Winnipeg Public Library, Canada.
The Irish interest in this year’s Shortlist comes from Colum McCann’s Apeirogon (Bloomsbury, nominated by South Dublin Libraries), in which two men, one Palestinian, one Israeli, find a point of equilibrium, if not peace, in a novel written in a 1001 short chapters. Among the most nominated novels on the 2021 list was a first novel from Vietnamese-American poet, Ocean Vuong; On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Jonathan Cape, Vintage). This lyrical tale of life on the edges for a gay Vietnamese man coming of age in a working class community was nominated by the DC Public Library, USA; Deichman Library, Norway; Richmond Public Library, USA; Stockholm Public Library, Sweden and Universitätsbibliothek Bern, Switzerland – eloquent testimony to the Prize’s global reach. Finally, Colson Whitehead’s moving and restrained account of institutional abuse, The Nickel Boys (Little Brown Group, Doubleday), was nominated by Cleveland Public Library, USA; New Hampshire State Library, USA and Openbare Bibliotheek Gent, Belgium.
If there is a common theme running through this year’s novels, it centres around protagonists surviving in times of adversity – stories we all need to read these days. The winner of the €100,000 prize (of which €25,000 goes to the translator for a book in translation) is announced on May 20, as part of the opening day programme of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin), which is also funded by Dublin City Council. The awards ceremony will be held virtually this year, allowing everyone to attend this event.
Meanwhile, what better year to commit to reading the entire shortlist?
All of the shortlisted books can be borrowed from libraries nationwide and, while libraries are closed, can be downloaded via the Borrowbox app.
