The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is the largest literary prize in the world. It is an annual international award, with the highest prize money of all: €100,000 for the book of the "highest literary merit".
History
In 1994, the Lord Mayor of Dublin City, Alderman Gay Mitchell, took the initiative to create a Dublin Literary Award. The purpose of the award was to foster international prestige and economic development for Dublin City, and to "encourage new works of high literary merit published in the English language." Sponsorship was gained from the IMPAC corporation, a private company with Irish heritage, and the first award was given in 1996.
Candidates
A summary of the entry guidelines is provided by the judges: to be eligible for consideration for the 2002 Award a novel must have been: first published in English between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2000, both dates inclusive, or first published in a language other than English between 1st January 1996 and 31st December 2000 and first published in English translation between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2000 (all dates inclusive)."
The Dublin Literary Award is a fiction award.
Rather than being nominated by the general public or a panel of judges, candidates are selected by libraries across the world. Each library may nominate up to three books, and more than one hundred international libraries participate in the nomination phase, which is co-ordinated by the Dublin City Public Libraries. The group of participating libraries is not set in stone; any library may apply for membership of the group.
Once the nominations are received, the works are judged by a five-member panel of international literary figures.
Previous Recipients
2003: Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red (translated from the Turkish by Erdag M. Göknar)
2002: Michel Houellebecq, Atomised (The Elementary Particles) (translated from the French by Frank Wynne)
2001: Alastair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
2000: Nicola Barker, Wide Open
1999: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
1998: Herta Muller, The Land of Green Plums
1997: Javier Marias, A Heart So White
1996: David Malouf, Remembering Babylon
Contact
By post:
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Office,
Dublin City, Public Libraries,
Administrative Headquarters, Cumberland House,
Fenian Street. Dublin 2,
Republic of Ireland.
By phone and fax:
Tel: (01) 6619000
Fax: (01) 6761626