The 2017 International DUBLIN Literary Award shortlist has been announced. The list includes The Green Road by Irish author, Anne Enright, six novels in translation from Angola, Austria, Denmark/Norway, Mexico, Mozambique and Turkey, and novels from Nigeria, Vietnam and the USA.
It looks like an interesting list: I’ve seen most of these reviewed around the blogs I read, and will hunt out links to them when I have time.
1. A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa (Angolan) Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn.
- See Paul Fulcher’s review.
- See Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
2. Confession of the Lioness by Mia Couto (Mozambican) Translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw.
3. The Green Road by Anne Enright (Irish ), on my TBR
4. The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine (Danish/Norwegian) Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.
5. The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (Mexican) Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney.
- See my ANZ LitLovers review.
- See Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
6. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnamese/American) First novel.
7. Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (Nigerian-American) First novel. Already on my wishlist.
8. A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk (Turkish) Translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap. On my TBR.
9. A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (Austrian) Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins.
- See Paul Fulcher’s review.
- See Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
10. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (American)
The International DUBLIN Literary Award is worth €100,000 to the winner and is the world’s most valuable annual literary award for a single work of fiction published in English. The award was launched on 7th April 1995 and is now in its 22nd year.
‘The 2017 winner will be chosen from this intriguing international shortlist which includes six novels in translation from Danish, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. The novels come from Angola, Austria, Denmark/Norway, Ireland, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Turkey, Vietnam and the USA’, said Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian. ‘Issues of conflict and communication are set against a myriad of cultural and family settings and in contemporary and historic time periods. For readers, these stories add new and absorbing characters to our circle of international literary acquaintances.’
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Happy to see ‘A Strangeness in My Mind’ on there, it is one of my favourite books. Also ‘A Little Life’, I loved. Didn’t finish ‘The Sympathizer’ but did like it very much until it lost my interest somehow somewhere. Maybe it was life got in the way…
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By: Jenny May Ackland on April 11, 2017
at 1:15 pm
Life, gosh yes, funny how it does that, eh?
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 2:48 pm
I’ve read “The Sympathizer,” “A Little Life” and “The Green Road.” They were all pretty good – “The Sympathizer” is my favorite of that bunch. I see I”m going to have to bump “A Strangeness in Mind” up the list –
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By: beckylindroos on April 11, 2017
at 1:28 pm
Hey Becky, If you could let me have the URLs for your reviews I could add them as links?
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 2:49 pm
Oops – just did it on another post – reading my mail backwards this morning I guess. lol
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By: beckylindroos on April 12, 2017
at 1:37 am
I’ve only read The Green Road and thought it was a good story but not Enright’s best.
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By: kimbofo on April 11, 2017
at 4:38 pm
Have you got a review I can link to please?
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 4:47 pm
Hello Lisa, here you go: https://readingmattersblog.com/2015/08/25/the-green-road-by-anne-enright/
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By: kimbofo on April 12, 2017
at 8:20 am
I have read 5 of them
A Little Life
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1394204827
Confessions of the Lionness
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1552367883
A Whole Life
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1576159448
A Strangeness in my Mind
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1399820765
A General Theory of Oblivion
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1576159376
The Pamuk is my favourite of those
I am intrigued by The Prophets of Eternal Fjord as i have heard good things about it
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By: fulcherkim on April 11, 2017
at 5:49 pm
Woo hoo! Your reviews are always interesting… thanks, Paul:)
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 5:52 pm
To my surprise I find that I have actually read (listened to) one of these, Prophets of Eternal Fjord, and enjoyed it to.
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By: wadholloway on April 11, 2017
at 6:05 pm
I don’t remember you reviewing it… is it too late for you to write one when you get home?
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 9:09 pm
Too late! Maybe when I visit Greenland.
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By: wadholloway on April 11, 2017
at 9:40 pm
Drat!
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 9:45 pm
That one is now on my wish list – thanks.
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By: beckylindroos on April 12, 2017
at 12:50 am
I’ve read A Little Life and A Whole Life. I wasn’t particularly wowed by the latter. The former was a very engaging and engrossing (and confronting) read. I have A Strangeness in My Mind on my shelves – it looks really interesting.
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By: sharkell on April 11, 2017
at 7:49 pm
I’ve read a few reviews of those two, and haven’t really been inspired to chase up either. It might just be my mood at the moment. I want something a bit frisky to read (so don’t ask me why I picked up Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping for my current reading, I am making heavy weather of it.)
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 8:58 pm
I have battled through Gilead – my first and only Robinson – too much like hard work for me.
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By: sharkell on April 11, 2017
at 9:02 pm
I didn’t like it either, but I thought she was a good writer so I was prepared to give her another go. But there are limits IMO to how far you can go with writing about ordinary everyday lives, and I think it’s either her limit or mine that’s being tested by Housekeeping…
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 9:05 pm
Some writers can make ordinary life very interesting.
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By: sharkell on April 11, 2017
at 9:40 pm
Yes, indeed they can. And some ordinary lives aren’t ordinary at all. It’s all in the art of the author…
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By: Lisa Hill on April 11, 2017
at 9:48 pm
I didn’t see where you wanted links to reviews –
The Green Road by Anne Enright: https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/2015-2/082015-2/the-green-road/
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen: https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/o82016/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen/
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara:
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/2015-2/082015-2/a-little-life/
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By: beckylindroos on April 12, 2017
at 1:36 am