Opening book on €100,000 prize
The award is administered by Dublin City Public Libraries, and books are nominated by public libraries worldwide. Of the 154 books nominated for the 2013 award, 43 were American, 22 British or Irish, and 12 Canadian, while 42 were translated from 19 other languages. The long-list has been whittled down to ten titles.
Kevin Barry is the sole Irish writer on the list. Barry is nominated for City of Bohane, which the New York Times said was “an extraordinary first novel, and full of marvels”. City of Bohane is set in a mythical Irish town 40 years hence, where ganglords squabble over turf and the proceeds of crime. Barry is also the author of the short-story collections, There Are Little Kingdoms and Dark Lies the Island.
