Dublin City Council announces
the 2022 DUBLIN Literary Award Shortlist

Shortlisted titles:

Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, trans. by Anna Moschovakis
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter, trans. by Frank Wynne

6 novels have been shortlisted for the 2022 DUBLIN Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council. Celebrating 27 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 2022 Award winner will be chosen from a diverse and international shortlist which includes two novels in translation and a first-time novelist. The shortlist features authors who are French, Irish, Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg (Alderville First Nation, Canadian), New Zealand, and Nigerian.

The 27th winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be announced by its Patron, Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland on Thursday 19th May, as part of the opening day programme of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin), which is also funded by Dublin City Council.

Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens, praised the Award for breaking down barriers through literature by inviting readers around the world to read books translated from different languages, and cultures.

“Selecting 6 titles for this year’s DUBLIN Literary Award shortlist from a longlist of 79 is a challenge, says Mairéad and I commend our judging panel for presenting us with stories which illustrate the breadth of human thought, endurance and response during tense and challenging moments in life.

This year’s shortlist is an affecting one for readers, encouraging us to experience a sense of other realities.

Each book is worthy of our attention and will leave us questioning. I encourage readers to dive into the list and choose for themselves their favourite before this year’s DUBLIN Literary Award winner is announced on Thursday 19 May.”

The international panel of judges who will select the shortlist and winner, features Dubliner Sinéad Moriarty, a writer and books ambassador for Eason’s Must Reads book club; Alvin Pang, from Singapore, is a poet, writer, editor, anthologist, translator and researcher; Cork-born, Clíona Ní Ríordáin lives in Paris and is a Professor of English at Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle; Professor Emmanuel Dandaura is a creative writer, literary critic, festival curator, scholar, and multiple award winning playwright based in Abuja, Nigeria and Victoria White, a graduate with an MLitt in English Literature of Trinity College Dublin, who has worked as a writer and journalist with the Irish Times and the Irish Examiner.
The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.

Podcast Series
In the lead up to the winner announcement, and to enhance the reading experience of the shortlist, the DUBLIN Literary Award website and social media channels will share 6 short films featuring well-known Irish actors performing short excerpts from the shortlisted novels. In association with their partner, International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin), a special shortlist podcast series has been commissioned which will take listeners inside the shortlisted novels and speak exclusively to the authors and translator in contention for the award.

Key Dates
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 Alison Gilliland on Thursday 19th May during the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin) which runs from the 19th to the 29th May 2022 from Merrion Square.

Many of 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 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.