DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD LONGLIST REVEALED
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Thursday 25th May 2023: German author Katja Oskamp and English translator Jo Heinrich have been announced today as winners of the 2023 Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for the novel Marzahn, Mon Amour (published by Peirene Press). The Award is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English.
Uniquely, the Award receives its nominations from public libraries around the world and recognises both writers and translators. Author Katja Oskamp receives €75,000 and Jo Heinrich, as translator, receives €25,000. Marzahn, Mon Amour is the 11th novel in translation to win the Dublin Literary Award.
The winning title was announced today at a special event, at International Literature Festival Dublin, which runs until 28th May. Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Caroline Conroy made the announcement and Dublin City Librarian, presented the prizes to Katja and Jo at the International Literature Festival Dublin Literary Village in Merrion Square Park.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy said “Marzahn, Mon Amour is a beautifully written novel. It’s a warm, witty and moving portrait of older residents in Berlin, which offers the reader an insight into a community often overlooked. I’d like to congratulate Katja Oskamp and Jo Heinrich on winning the 2023 Dublin Literary Award and to thank everyone involved in the award – writers, translators, librarians, publishers and the administrative staff of Dublin City Council.”
“I offer my congratulations to the Dublin Literary Award winners 2023 for Marzahn, Mon Amour, said Owen Keegan, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council. Through its public libraries, the City Council is committed to the Dublin Literary Award,which recognises great story-telling across the globe.”
Nominated by Stadtbüchereien Düsseldorf in Germany, the winning novel was chosen from a shortlist of six novels by writers from Croatia, Mexico, Germany, United States and Canada/Vietnam.
The longlist of 70 titles was nominated by 84 libraries from 31 countries.
Winner Katja Oskamp commented that ‘This prize honours my work as a writer and as a chiropodist in the most wonderful way possible. I am proud that the jury’s decision draws attention to the moving biographies of my East German compatriots.’
Translator, Jo Heinrich said ‘I can’t get over the warm reception this book has had, and the way people have really taken it into their hearts. The last few weeks have been mind-blowing for a newbie translator; my concentration span has been decidedly lacking since I heard we’d be here in Dublin – but this is the absolute high point of my life, and I really cannot thank you all enough.’
Katja Oskamp and Jo Heinrich will appear at ILFDublin, for an in-depth conversation about the novel, with broadcaster Rick O’Shea, tomorrow evening (Friday 26th May) at 6.15pm in Merrion Square Park (Speranza stage).
Book to attend in person or online:
Copies of the winning title are available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and from public libraries throughout Ireland. Readers can also borrow the winning novel on BorrowBox in eBook format. Further details about the Award and the winning novel are available on the Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie
The 2023 Judging Panel, led by Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College Dublin, and includes Gabriel Gbadamosi, Marie Hermet, Sarah Moss, Arunava Sinha and Doireann Ní Ghríofa, commented:
“Every so often, you come across a novel whose simple, direct honesty knocks you sideways. There is an unaffected humility and generosity about Katja Oskamp’s Marzhan, Mon Amour that speaks to the value of community and to the dignity of ordinary lives. ‘The love I have inside me has turned to liquid,’ concludes the novel’s narrator, ‘and now runs into the most unlikely places’. To read Marzhan, Mon Amour in Jo Heinrich’s translation from the German is to feel Katja Oskamp’s all-encompassing embrace of her world.”
Watch an extract performed by Aenne Barr –
Katja Oskamp was born in 1970 in Leipzig and grew up in Berlin. After completing her degree in theatre studies, she worked as a playwright at the Volkstheater Rostock and went on to study at the German Literature Institute. Her debut collection of stories, Halbschwimmer, was published in 2003. In 2007 she published her first novel, Die Staubfängerin. Marzahn, Mon Amour, published by Hanser with the subtitle ‘A Chiropodist’s Tales’, was selected for the ‘Berlin Reads One Book’ campaign and thus literally became the talk of the town. Marzahn, Mon Amour is her first work to be translated into English.
Like the narrator in Marzahn, Mon Amour, Jo Heinrich found her ideal career in her middle years, and graduated in 2018 with a distinction in her MA in Translation from the University of Bristol. She was shortlisted for the 2020 Austrian Cultural Forum London Translation Prize and the 2019 John Dryden Translation Competition. She translates from French and German, and she lives just outside Bristol with her family. Marzahn, Mon Amour is her first literary translation.
Photo ©Karl Bruninx
Leuven Irish Writer-in-Residence Programme – Call for two residencies in October 2023
The Irish Writer-in-Residence programme is a collaboration between Irish College Leuven and the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies, supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.
The residency is for one month, October 2023, when they will host two writers.
The deadline for applications is 15 June 2023 and the full call is available here.
LitTransformer is an international translation workshop that fosters collaboration among translators from various UNESCO Cities of Literature, stressing the importance of literary translation and its power as a regenerative commons. The project was started by Lviv City of Literature and is being continued under the guidance of Ljubljana City of Literature
July 2–10, 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mentors: Aron Aji, the Director of Center for Translation and Global Literacy, and Translation Programs at the University of Iowa, and Matthias Göritz, professor of Practice of Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.
Topic: Passages of Survival
Cities are living organisms, constantly reshaped by all forms of violence. However, cities are also creative transformation zones, capable of spurning creative anarchies with regenerative potential. Now, in times of world crises, and particularly one of the biggest wars since the Second World War in the center of Europe – the war in Ukraine – cities will once again speak and hear each other. LitTransformer aims to reflect on the recuperative possibilities of literature and foster translation as cross-cultural dialogue, thus emphasizing the opportunities for empathy.
Toward this aim, the workshop sets out to create an engaging cross-cultural environment where participants are asked to interact creatively by translating poetry from represented CoLs.
Participants will work in pairs across three languages: their two native languages as well as English, the bridge between them. Each participant will be both a guide into their own urban imaginary (in their native language) and a novice traveler into a foreign one (in their partner’s language). Interrogating their own subjectivities, participating translators will be moving between familiarity and estrangement, experiencing both languages vividly and reflectively.
Application form: https://forms.gle/1iG4EmrqHprK78Y67
Granada UNESCO City of Literature has just launched the call for applications for Granada Writers in Residence Programme for next November 2023.
The closing date for application submissions is May 31st, 2023.
Knowledge of the Spanish language will be highly valued, although it will not be essential.
What’s on offer: A month’s stay (30 nights) in Granada for two writers, between November 3 and December 2, 2023, at the Corrala de Santiago of the University of Granada.
Granada UNESCO City of Literature will cover the travelling expenses of each of the writers selected.
The University of Granada will arrange and cover the costs of accommodation for the two writers. Each will have their own room with full board at the university’s hall of residence for visitors (Corrala de Santiago).
Granada UNESCO City of Literature and the University of Granada will provide the writers in residence with opportunities to participate in the city’s literary life, arranging contacts with local writers, involvement in workshops, teaching activities, and so on.
Completed application forms should be submitted by email to the contact person in the offices of Granada UNESCO City of Literature, Carmen Casares, carmen@granadaciudaddeliteratura.com by no later than May 31, 2023.
The names of the two successful applicants will be announced on June 27, 2023, on the Granada UNESCO City of Literature website (www.granadaciudaddeliteratura.com).
Six novels have been shortlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, which awards excellence in world literature. Celebrating 28 years, this award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the book has been translated the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000. Distinctive among literary prizes, nominations are chosen by librarians and readers from a network of libraries around the world.
The 2023 Award winner will be chosen from a diverse and international shortlist which includes four novels in translation, from Croatian, French, Spanish, and German. The shortlist features authors who are American, Mexican, German, Croatian, and Canadian-Vietnamese.
The 28th winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be announced by its Patron, Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy on Thursday 25th May, as part of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD), which is also funded by Dublin City Council.
The shortlisted titles are:
The international panel of judges who have selected the shortlist and will select the winner, features Gabriel Gbadamosi who is an Irish and Nigerian poet, playwright and critic based in London; Marie Hermet who is a writer and translator who teaches creative writing and translation at the Université Paris Cité; English writer Sarah Moss who is the author of eight novels and now teaches on the MA and MFA in creative writing at UCD; Doireann Ní Ghríofa who is a bilingual poet, essayist and translator from Co. Clare; and Arunava Sinha who translates fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Bengali to English and from English to Bengali and has won several translation awards in India.
The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.
The six member international judging panel, chaired by Prof. Chris Morash, will select one winner, which will be announced by the Patron of the Award, Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy on Thursday 25th May during the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) which runs from the 19th to the 28th May 2023 in Merrion Square.
The novels nominated and shortlisted for the Award will be available for readers to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and from public libraries around Ireland, or can be borrowed as eBooks and some as eAudiobooks on the free Borrowbox app, available to all public library users.
The shortlist can be viewed on the Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature supported by Dublin City Council provides small grants up to a maximum of €5,000 to individuals and organisations which contribute to the promotion of literature in the City.
We are particularly interested in projects that:
Funding is available for activities/ projects that take place between 1st January – 31st December 2023.
We are committed to allocating our limited resources across as many organisations as possible and this may mean that recipients who have been successful in receiving funding in the past may not necessarily be allocated a grant again in 2023. It may however be possible for a partial grant to be given so it is useful for us if you break down your submission into constituent parts to enable us to identify where we may be able to assist in some way.
CLOSING DATE THURSDAY 23RD MARCH 2023 12 NOON
Please email the completed form to cityofliterature@dublincity.ie
APPLICATIONS CLOSE AT 11.59PM (NZST) ON 14 APRIL 2023.
The Caselberg Trust and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature are pleased to offer the Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency. The aim of the Residency is to provide international and Aotearoa New Zealand writers an opportunity to work on a substantial piece of creative writing and to foster connections among creative writers in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. There are no limits in terms of genre, language, or length of writing, and completion of the project during the Residency is not a requirement. The Residency is offered annually for a period of six weeks to writers from other UNESCO Cities of Literature and to Aotearoa New Zealand writers in alternating years. In 2023 the Residency is offered to a writer from another UNESCO City of Literature.
The Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency is run jointly and collaboratively by the Caselberg Trust and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature. Funding from the Caselberg Trust is provided through a generous bequest by the late Margaret Egan.
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature is delighted to announce the programme of events for this year’s One Dublin One Book which features The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes (Transworld) following on from Nora by Nuala O’Connor in 2022.
This annual Dublin City Council initiative, supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, encourages reading for pleasure. One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April.
There will be free events including discussions, talks, walks, readings, music performances, book club events and lots more during the month in various venues across the city as well as in Dublin City Libraries, DLR Libraries, Fingal Libraries, South Dublin Libraries, and drawing on the connection with Andrew’s home county, a special event by Wexford County Council Library Service, will take place on 6th April. There will also be One Dublin One Book online events with the Irish Embassy in Warsaw and Vancouver.
http://www.onedublinonebook.ie/whats-on/
Events will include:
Andrew Hughes in conversation with Niall MacMonagle in the beautiful setting of the Hugh Lane Gallery to discuss his journey from archivist to writer of historical fiction, and to explore the themes, settings, and characters in his novels. Accompanied by music from the Dublin String Quartet and dramatised readings by actors Julie Crowe and Shane O’Regan.
The Anatomy of Crime discussion with author Andrew Hughes and State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers and Deputy State Pathologist Dr Jill Roman.
James Scannell from the Old Dublin Society on the police intelligence reports from various newspapers around the 1800s.
Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly on freak weather events in Irish history.
Andrew Hughes, Nicola Cassidy and Sinéad Crowley on writing vivid and authentic female protagonists.
Download a pdf of the full programme here
Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy, who launched the programme at Hugh Lane Gallery, said “I’m a fan of the One Dublin One Book initiative inspiring people across the city to revel in the delights of reading every April. The canvas for this year’s selection is familiar city territory. Names may have changed but the buildings, squares and streets are still there, 200 years later.”
Andrew Hughes says “I’m so thrilled that The Coroner’s Daughter has been chosen for this year’s One Dublin One Book. The city has always been a huge source of inspiration, providing me with a setting and a cast of characters, and I love uncovering stories hidden in Dublin’s old houses. Although I’m from Wexford, I went to college in the city and have lived in Drumcondra for more than twenty years. My extended family are Dubliners, so it’s a huge source of pride to have my book celebrated in this way. I sincerely hope readers enjoy following Abigail and her forensic investigations. I can’t wait for the events to begin in April.”
Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens, says “The Coroner’s Daughter is a story rooted in Dublin city of the early 19th Century with fascinating themes such as forensic science, religion, and the role of women in Ireland at the time. It is also an entertaining detective story, which I’m sure will engage the readers of Dublin and beyond. I’m looking forward to the discussions that will take place among readers this April.”
Copies of The Coroner’s Daughter have been purchased by Dublin City Libraries and are available to borrow from all public libraries nationwide, and on e-book format through the free BorrowBox library app. The e-audiobook will be available on 1st April via Borrowbox. The new One Dublin One Book edition of The Coroner’s Daughter is also available to buy from all good book shops.
The NCBI Library Access Service have created a Braille version of The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes. This title is also available in fully accessible digital formats (EPUB, BRF, DAISY and Word) from the NCBI Bookshare Ireland platform
Wonju City of Literature offers a chance for one writer from cities of literature to come to Wonju and stay at Toji Cultural Centre for eight weeks, as Wonju City of Literautre’s international level contribution to the cities of literature sub-network, designed to promote the understanding and the friendship of cities of literature. In the call of 2023, just like the call out in previous years, one writer from cities of literature and/or who has a close connection to cities of literature will benefit from the CoL Wonju Residency 2023.
Residency Call Details:
• Closing Date of Application: March 16
• Announcement of Successful Recipient: Before April 7
• Place for Residency: Toji Cultural Centre
• Residency Duration: Eight weeks
• Initiating Date of Residency: September 1
• Ending Date of Residency: October 31
• Round-trip Air Ticket Provided
• Transportation on arrival and departure dates provided
• Organic meals are provided at the cafeteria of Toji Cultural Centre (For other details, please refer to ※ Note below at the end.)
• Writing Room: One Room at Toji Cultural Centre provided
How to Apply:
1. Let us know about yourself
2. Let us know about your literary works, achievements, awards, etc
3. Let us know about your literary world
4. Let us know about why you would like to come to Wonju
Please note that those interested in the Residency have to write only MS-Word document of more than 1,000 words but not more than 2,000 words(in font size 11 to 12), reflecting all the subjects numbered above. Disproportionate emphasis on only one or two subjects is not encouraged. Balanced approach to each subject is highly recommended.
Application not meeting 1,000 words or exceeding 2,000 words will result in a removal from the consideration. Besides, for fair assessment, additional portfolio and materials will not be accepted and they will not be either considered. Also, please do not forget to write in the document in which country and which city of literature you are currently living. If you are not currently living in a city of literature but if you are able to provide a reliable source of evidence suggesting you have lived in a city of literature and you are able to prove it, the application will be considered, all of which, however, will be verified through the contact with a focal point or coordinator of the city of literature once a final pick is done. And, the residency opportunity does not roll over to the next year even if the selected writer is not able to fly to Korea to stay at Toji Cultural Centre. In this case, the other writer that will be selected by Toji Cultural Centre will take the chance.
Language and Level:
English is a must and applicants should possess the minimum command of B2 level for communication.
Selection and Notification:
We will go through the 2nd phase of assessment based on the submitted document. One final recipient for the Residency will be decided by an independent panel designated by Toji Cultural Centre. Final notification will be available to both the recipient and the coordinator before April 7.
Requirements during Residency:
There are no requirements whatsoever for a successful writer during his/her/their stay. We want the recipient just to relax and engage in his/her/their creative activity as much and comfortably as possible in such a tranquil environment around Toji Cultural Centre during the Residency. Korean writers and artists will stay at Toji Cultural Centre during the same period, and the writer is highly recommended to form friendship with them during his/her/their stay. Approximately sixteen up to nineteen writers and artists from Korea and also outside of Korea will stay at Toji Cultural Centre from September 1 to October 31. Just like other writers and artists, the selected recipient should follow the rules of living established at Toji Cultural Centre.
※ NoteOnly lunch on Saturdays is provided but no prepared meals are available on public holidays. It is also a rule that writers and artists prepare a breakfast of their own preparation with light bread and beverage served at the cafeteria. Each writer’s room has a small fridge, thus writers and artists can buy some food and drinks and keep them for their own light meal. A microwave oven, a relatively big refrigerator, a TV, a water dispenser, and a drum washer are all for everyone’s use and they are readily available in the lounge.
A minimum of 35 mentoring relationships are on offer through the 2023 National Mentoring Programme. Applications will open via Submittable on Wednesday 1 February 2023, and will close at midnight on Thursday 2 March 2023. The opportunity is available to writers of:
Writers from all thirty-two counties can apply.
This opportunity is specifically for:
Each mentorship consists of four meetings with an experienced writer over a period of approximately 6–8 months. The mentor will read your work in advance of each meeting, and will give feedback and advice at each meeting. They may also provide professional information and advice.
Mentee opportunities are open to writers of any age, race, gender and nationality who are resident in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. All mentees will avail of the relationship for free. There is no fee for application. The Irish Writers Centre actively encourages applications from writers from diverse social, economic or cultural backgrounds.
The Irish Writers Centre is committed to the principles and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion. As a publicly-funded organisation, we are committed to taking positive policy measures to promote equality of opportunity, access and outcomes for all those living in Ireland regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, civil or family status, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller community, as well as socio-economic background.