Friday, April 06, 2007

The 2007 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Finalists

EIGHT NOVELS have been shortlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Julian Barnes’s Arthur and George, Sebastian Barry’s A Long Long Way, Peter Hobbs’s The Short Day Dying and Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses are some of the better novels deserving to win the prize. Having said that, there are no surprises on this shortlist: it is safe, predictable and unexciting. And yes, it’s an all-male shortlist.

1. Arthur and George / Julian Barnes (Britain)
2. A Long Long Way / Sebastian Barry (Ireland)
3. Slow Man / J.M. Coetzee (South Africa)
4. The Short Day Dying / Peter Hobbs (Britain)
5. No Country for Old Men / Cormac McCarthy (U.S.)
6. Out Stealing Horses / Per Petterson (Norway)
7. Shalimar the Clown / Salman Rushdie (Britain)
8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close / Jonathan Safran Foer (U.S.)

The winner will be announced in Dublin on June 14, 2007

2 Comments:

Blogger PJKM said...

It's an admirable but fairly safe list, as you say. I wrote a basic analysis of the shortlist (and the libraries that nominated the books!) here:

http://trendybutcasual.typepad.com/trendy_but_casual/2007/04/norwegian_libra.html

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 8:40:00 AM  
Blogger Eric Forbes said...

Hello Paula - Thanks for your comments. Yes - it is a fairly safe list. I read your analysis and thought it sensible. I do think that some of the writers were shortlisted not for their best work.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 4:28:00 AM  

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