The shortlist of eight books for this year’s Impac Dublin Literary Award was formally announced this morning.
Among the contenders are Junot Díaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Waoand two 2007 Booker contenders, Mohsin Hamid and Indra Sinha.
US writer David Leavitt has been given the nod as well as his countryman Travis Holland, for his debut novel
The Archivist's Story.
While
Redemption Fallsby Joseph O'Connor and
The Gatheringby Anne Enright were on the longlist published in November, neither made the final cut.
There are no British or Canadian writers on the shortlist while female authors are also notable by their absence.
Europe is represented by Jean Echenoz, and Norwegian Roy Jacobsen, for his book
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles.
The 8th place on the shortlist is occupied by Michael Thomas's debut
Man Gone Down,which is yet to be published in Europe but has been enthusiastically received in the US where it featured in the
New York Timestop 10 books of the year.
Previous winners of the prestigious award include
De Niro's Gameby Rawi Hage last year,
Out Stealing Horsesby Per Petterson which won the award the previous year and
The Masterby Colm Tóibín which was awarded the top prize in 2006.
Impac Dublin Literary Award Shortlist
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
Animal's People - Indra Sinha.
The Indian Clerk - David Leavitt
The Archivist's Story - Travis Holland
Ravel - Jean Echenoz
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles - Roy Jacobsen
Man Gone Down- Michael Thomas
