2026 Dublin Literary Award Nominated Titles

See the full list here

The Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, is pleased to announce the full list of nominated titles for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award.

Established in 1994, the Award aims to promote excellence in world literature. Designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010, Dublin’s literary heritage is a significant driver of cultural tourism for the City. 

The Dublin Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English. The Award receives nominations from public libraries around the world and recognises both authors and translators and is the most valuable prize in the world for a single work of fiction, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the winning book has been translated, the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000.

69 titles have been nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries for the 2026 Award, reflecting the best in fiction from Africa, Europe, Asia, USA, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Novels by 5 Irish authors are included on the 2026 list of nominated titles which also features 20 debut authors, 30 translated titles with translations in 17 languages including Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Japanese and Polish.

Titles by Irish authors nominated for the 2026 Award are:

Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey
Camarade by Theo Dorgan
The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin

In a new development for the Award this year, the judges will select a longlist of up to 20 titles, which will be announced on 17 February 2026 while the shortlist of 6 titles will be revealed on 7 April 2026.

The 31st winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be announced on 21st May 2026 at the Winner’s Ceremony, as part of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD).

The Judging Panel

is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin, where he served as Vice-Provost from 2016–19. His recent books include Dublin: A Writer’s City and Yeats on Theatre. A member of the Royal Irish Academy, he writes widely on Irish literature and culture.

is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and filmmaker. Her works include A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, I Am China, and Once Upon a Time in the East, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she also directs acclaimed feature films.

is a former Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, Germany, the UK and the US. Now Global Distinguished Professor of Irish Studies at New York University (NYU), he is also a fellow at Cambridge and Harvard. A leading commentator on Irish literature and history, his recent books explore Yeats and Ulysses.

is a literary translator from English to Spanish whose work spans fiction and non-fiction by writers such as Jan Carson, Rebecca Solnit and Louise Kennedy. Based between Madrid and Belfast, she runs Wheeker Books, promoting Northern Irish literature among Spanish-speaking publishers and readers.

is a Nigerian performance poet, author and spoken word theatre practitioner. His novel Urichindere won the ANA (Association of Nigerian Authors) Prize for Prose Fiction in 2013. Executive Director of the Simply Poetry Foundation, he uses art to drive social change and has toured widely with his acclaimed Made in Nigeria Show.

is the author of Dirty Laundry and I Will Blossom Anyway. Her debut was an Irish Times bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and the inaugural An Post Book Club selection. Born in India, she has lived in Ireland for a decade and is a University College Dublin graduate.

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