Irish authors shortlisted for several grand prizes


In Saturday’s Irish Times, Lisa McInerney tells me about her new novel, The Rules of Revelation. Louise Nealon talks to Edel Coffey about her first novel, Snowflake; and Rachel Donohue writes about heat waves in literature, a hallmark of her second novel, The Beauty of Impossible Things.

Critics include Eoin Ó Broin on a range of books dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic; Jonathan McAloon on Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor; Seán Hewitt on Best New Poetry; Helen Cullen on the whereabouts of Jhumpa Lahiri; Geoff Roberts on Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin; Brigid Laffan on Reclaiming the European Street by President Michael D Higgins; Rebecca Pelan on My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland; Sarah Gilmartin on Kjersti’s Child A Skomsvold.

Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars is the Irish Times book offer this weekend at Eason. You can save € 6 off its normal retail price when you buy the paper at any branch.

Caoilinn Hughes was shortlisted for the £ 10,000 RSL Encore Award for Best Second Novel for The Wild Laughter. Judged by Nikita Lalwani, Paul Muldoon and Sian Cain, the winner of the award will be announced on May 20.

Hughes is one of the two shortlisted authors of One World, along with The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. The shorltist is completed by Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury); Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal (Bluemoose Books); and The Blind Light by Stuart Evers (Picador).

Previous recipients include Sally Rooney, Lisa McInerney, MJ Hyland, Tim O’Grady, Ali Smith, Anne Enright, AL Kennedy, Colm Tóibín and last year’s winner Patrick McGuinness.

Hughes’ debut novel Orchid & the Wasp won the 2019 Collyer Bristow Award and was shortlisted for the Hearst Big Book Awards. The Wild Laughter was shortlisted for the 2021 Dylan Thomas Prize. She holds a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington and is currently Oscar Wilde Center Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.

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Susannah Dickey and Gráinne Murphy were shortlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, the world’s richest in the field with a prize of £ 30,000. Last year’s winner was Niamh Campbell and Danielle McLaughlin won in 2019.

There are nine women and eight American writers on the long list, including Irish author from Boston, Elizabeth McCracken, whose story, The Irish Wedding, is set in the west of Ireland. Also on the list are: Rabih Alameddine; Jamel Brinkley; Susan Choi; Laura Demers; Louise Erdrich; Rachael Fulton; Jonathan Gibbs; Allegra Goodman; Rachel Heng; Daniel Mason; Adam Nicolson; and Mark Jude Poirier.

The shortlist will be announced on June 6 and the winner on July 8.

“We still judge blindly in this award and have no idea who the author is or what nationality they are when we read,” said Sunday Times judge and editor Andrew Holgate. “So for American writers to feature so strongly this year, as they’ve done throughout the 12-year history of the competition, says a lot about the quality of news writing in the United States. The award, due to this blind reading, also has a proud history of finding new talent – including Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy – and I’m especially excited about the new voices on this list alongside some very well established names.

The other judges are authors Yiyun Li; David Mitchell; Curtis Sittenfeld; and Romesh Gunesekera.

Dickey was born in Belfast, raised in Derry and lives in South East London. Her first novel, Tennis Lessons, was published last year by Doubleday. His second poetry pamphlet, True Human Values ​​(The Lifeboat, 2018) won the 2019 Vincent Buckley Poetry Award. His most recent Bloodthirsty Marriage Poetry Brochure (Bad Betty Press, 2020) received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors. She holds an MA in Creative and Living Writing from Goldsmiths College and is working towards a PhD in Creative Writing at Seamus Heaney Center.

Murphy’s first novel, Where the Edge Is, was released last September and his second, The Ghostlights, will be released in September, both with Legend Press. Her short fiction has appeared in Fish Anthology 2020 (Safekeeping), RiPPLE Anthology 2017 (The Agatha Christie Bookclub), Irish Literary Review (Frank & Alfie) and Nivalis 2015 (Full of Grace).

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Several Irish detective writers have been shortlisted for the UK’s first detective novel, the Theakston Old Peculier, alongside well-known names such as Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. Jane Casey, Liz Nugent, Brian McGilloway and former winner Steve Cavanagh are up for the award. The list of finalists will be announced in June and the winner on July 22, at the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, with the public voting for the winner at harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com.

The full list is: Cry Baby by Mark Billingham; The other passenger by Louise Candlish; The Cut Place by Jane Casey; Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh; Black River by Will Dean; Between two evils of Eva Dolan; The guest list by Lucy Foley; The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths; The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone; Three hours from Rosamund Lupton; Still life of Val McDermid; The last passage by Brian McGilloway; Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee; Our little cruelties by Liz Nugent; A Song for Dark Times by Ian Rankin; Keep silent from Susie Steiner; We start at the end with Chris Whitaker; and The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood.

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As part of the European Book Club 2021 series, Instituto Cervantes Dublin will host a discussion on A Luminous Republic by Spanish writer Andrés Barba on 6 May at 6 p.m., translated into English by Lisa Dillman. The author will speak with journalist Antonio Jaén. A question-and-answer session with the public will follow. Click here.

Fiona Sherlock: Meath County Council Writer in Residence for 2021

Meath County Council has appointed local author Fiona Sherlock as writer in residence for 2021. The residency runs from April to December.

Sherlock, a detective writer from Bective, published two murder mysteries during the lockdown. Preserved, a modern murder mystery, is published by Poolbeg. Twelve Motives for Murder is an immersive murder mystery experience published in audio and ebook by Hodder Studios. Sherlock will host a series of workshops and public events, including two events for children and young adults for this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg festival.


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