Irish author Mike McCormack has won the 2018 International DUBLIN Literary Award for his novel Solar Bones. The Award is organised and sponsored by Dublin City Council and at €100,000 is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English. Mike McCormack is the fourth Irish author to win the prize in its 23-year history.
Uniquely, the Award receives its nominations from public libraries in cities around the globe and recognises both writers and translators. The winner was announced at a ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House today.
Mike McCormack is an award-winning novelist and short story writer from County Mayo, Ireland. In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and in 2007 he was awarded a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship. In 2016 he won the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award for best novel for Solar Bones. He was elected to Aosdána in May 2018. He currently lives in Galway, Ireland.
The winning novel was chosen from a total of 150 titles, nominated by libraries in 111 cities across 37 countries. It was first published by Tramp Press, an independent Irish publisher founded by Sarah Davis-Goff and Lisa Coen. The shortlist of ten novels, as chosen by an international panel of judges, included novels from four continents.
Commenting on his win, Mike McCormack said: ‘I am delighted to receive this unique prize which continues to recognise the valuable work of libraries around the world. To have Solar Bones chosen from a shortlist with such a broad international outlook is a special honour indeed. I have always thought that the inclusion of translated work is a particularly valuable aspect of the International DUBLIN Literary Award; these different voices and the diverse ways in which they tell their stories ensures that the novel in English does not become dull or complacent. Long may the prize continue to reach out with such intellectual and artistic curiosity across the world.’
Speaking at the winner announcement, Lord Mayor & Patron of the Award Mícheál Mac Donncha remarked; ‘The International DUBLIN Literary Award is a great Dublin success and a great international success – and our thanks go to all who are involved in making the Award work – writers, translators, publishers, librarians, and the administrative staff of the City Council.’
The prize money was presented to the winner by Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of the Award’s founders and sponsors, Dublin City Council. The Award is a key part of the City’s work in promoting Dublin as a UNESCO City of Literature, and as a great place for people to live, work in, and visit.
See www.dublinliteraryaward.ie for more details.