Five Irish writers, including John McGahern and Nuala O'Faolain, have been nominated on the initial list for the international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for 2003 which was announced today.
The 125-strong "long list" for the €100,000 prize, the wealthiest award in the world for a single work of fiction in English, will be whittled down to seven ahead prior to the award.
The list features 28 titles in translation and covers 13 non-English languages and maintains the competition's tradition of diverse international literature. Three novels of the seven winners have been translations, including last year's winner Michel Houellebecq's, Atomised.
Ireland is still awaiting its first winner. The five shortlisted authors 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 Boysand Niall Williams for The Fall of Light.
The nominations were received from 150 library systems, in 40 countries and from 114 cities. Other well-known authors on the initial list include; Isabel Allende, Nadine Gordimer, Hanif Kureishi, Yann Martel and CK Stead.
Also announced today was the international panel of judges. These include Mr Morgan Llywelyn, Ms Deirdre Madden, Mr Gianni Riotta, Mr Amritjit Singh, Mr Ilan Stavans and Mr Allen Weinstein.
The Short List will be announced on March 20th, 2003 and the winner on May 19th, 2003.