Five Irish authors have made it onto the longlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2003.
They are John McGahern for 'That They May Face the Rising Sun', Michael Curtin for 'Sing!', Nuala O'Faolain for 'My Dream of You', Jamie O'Neill for 'At Swim, Two Boys' and Niall Williams for 'The Fall of Light'.
Other nominees include Swedish writer Per Olov Enquist, England's Ian McEwan and American writer Jonathan Franzen, as well as Isabel Allende, Nadine Gordimer, Hanif Kureishi, Yann Martel and C.K. Stead.
The longlist of 125 eligible titles for the prestigious award was announced in Dublin today.
The award, now in its eighth year, offers €100,000 in prize money and is awarded for a single work of fiction in the English language.
The shortlist will be announced on 20 March 2003; the winner on 19 May 2003; and the presentation dinner will be held on 14 June 2003.
The members of this year's judging panel are Morgan Llywelyn, Deirdre Madden, Gianni Riotta, Amritjit Singh and Ilan Stavans. Allen Weinstein is the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
Last year's winner was Irish-based French writer Michel Houellebecq for 'Atomised'.
