International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

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kpjayan

Reader
Same here. I have David Diop's book with me, to be read. I see a lot of praise for 'The Art of Loosing'. Will wait for the outcome, before I buy any more from this list..
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
Bartleby said:
The shortlist for this year's prize is:

  • Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
  • The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin
  • The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
  • At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis
  • Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
  • The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter, translated by Frank Wynne

Apart from the David Diop book (winner of the 2021 International Booker) I've never heard of any of these books or authors... does anyone know them?

www.irishtimes.com

Dublin Literary Award shortlist: the six books in running for €100,000 prize

John Self reckons The Art of Falling and The Art of Losing are the pick of a strong shortlist
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com
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Mostly women on that list!:)
 
Benny Profane

Benny Profane

Well-known member
Bartleby said:
The shortlist for this year's prize is:

  • Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
  • The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin
  • The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
  • At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis
  • Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
  • The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter, translated by Frank Wynne
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I know Akwaeke Emezi. Her books Pet and Fresh Water were translated into Portuguese by Publishing House Kapulana.
I don't know if these books sound good or not, but they've been recognising here by some critics.
I'd like to read her. The critics have been saying here that her prose is very close to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's prose.
Maybe our new colleague @Ben Jackson might speak about her with some propriety.
 
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OverTheMountains

OverTheMountains

Reader
I've read two books of songs, poems, and stories by Leanne Batasamosake Simpson - Islands of Decolonial Love and This Accident of Being Lost. I think the former is stronger than the letter, but they were both quite good and I've recommended them to others - though I think they were published in limited numbers, so you might have a hard time finding them outside of Canada. I believe This Accident of Being Lost was nominated for the Giller Prize when it was released.

I've had Noopiming on my shelf since it was released. I've heard it is very good but I've not yet given it a read. Maybe this will be the impetus to give it a go. I've also got a collection of her essays. She's a prominent thought leader for Indigenous protest and Decolonization here in Canada.

Based on what I've read in the past, I'm expecting the writing to be pretty good if not particularly exceptional, but the ideas to be quite exciting and interesting. She captures the essence and potential and joy of decolonization really well, and she has managed to change my appreciation and understanding of my country's natural and human histories.
 
B

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Bartleby said:
I'm so happy this book (The Art of Losing) won, because it's the one on the shortlist I most wanted to read, after taking a look at some passages from the competitors. And kudos to Frank Wynne as well, a translator I greatly admire.

www.irishtimes.com

Alice Zeniter and Frank Wynne win International Dublin Literary Award

Author and translator discuss The Art of Losing, a novel about Algeria and France
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com
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Thanks for letting me know about this book, will look it up soon.
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
Bartleby said:
I'm so happy this book (The Art of Losing) won, because it's the one on the shortlist I most wanted to read, after taking a look at some passages from the competitors. And kudos to Frank Wynne as well, a translator I greatly admire.

www.irishtimes.com

Alice Zeniter and Frank Wynne win International Dublin Literary Award

Author and translator discuss The Art of Losing, a novel about Algeria and France
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com
Click to expand...
Enjoyed the interesting interview, thanks for sharing it. And, of course, this recognition, that a good literary translation can be also a work of art.
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
I have heard of this prize, for those who have read all the books that has won this Prize, can someone list some works that are worthy (about five or even ten).
 
Bartleby

Bartleby

Moderator
Wow, this prize this year was completely off my radar, and the winner has been announced. It is Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp.

The synopsis reads:
A woman approaching the invisible years of middle age abandons her failing writing career to retrain as a chiropodist in the suburb of Marzahn, once the GDRs largest prefabricated housing estate, on the outskirts of Berlin. From her intimate vantage point at the foot of the clinic chair, she keenly observes her clients and co-workers, delving into their personal histories with all their quirks and vulnerabilities. Each story stands alone as a beautifully crafted vignette, told with humour and poignancy; together they form a nuanced and tender portrait of a community. Part memoir, part collective history, Katja Oskamp's love letter to the inhabitants of Marzahn is a stunning reflection on life's progression and our ability to forge connections in the unlikeliest of places.
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Some comments from the judges:

“Man shall not live by feet alone.” This funny, thoughtful, heartfelt portrayal of a community is observed through the unusual perspective of the chiropodist kneeling at its feet. Our narrator is a woman who finds her career as a writer faltering, and decides to switch profession. “The middle years, when you’re neither young nor old,” she reflects, “are fuzzy years. You can no longer see the shore you started from, but you can’t yet get a clear enough view of the shore you’re heading for. You spend these years thrashing about in the middle of a big lake, out of breath, flagging from the tedium of swimming…” and so she turns to a new role as chiropodist in Marzahn, Berlin, where she finds herself listening intently to her clients. In these ostensibly mundane moments of care and conversation, she discovers that they each reveal something of themselves, their disappointments, their loves, their vulnerabilities, their rages, their joys. A sequence of portraits unfolds, in which each person who sits in the chiropodist’s chair is evoked with a gentle tenderness. As the novel progresses, we meet character after character as the narrator does, through their feet, and through this slow, deliberate culmination of vignettes, nimbly translated by Jo Heinrich, a greater portrait is achieved, that of how individuals are inevitably shaped by the ever-turning cogs of the machine of history. Readers, you’ve never read a book like this; expect to find yourself laughing aloud one moment, and deeply moved the next.
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Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
Bartleby said:
Wow, this prize this year was completely off my radar, and the winner has been announced. It is Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp.

The synopsis reads:


Some comments from the judges:
Click to expand...
Just learned a new word: chiropodist! The chiropodist perspective seems to be the first joke of this novel.
 
Verkhovensky

Verkhovensky

Well-known member
At least now many authors will have blurbs with "From Dublin Literary Award longlisted author" til the end of their careers, boosting their sales at least a little bit.

Edit: A very diverse list... you have some "pop" writers like Dennis Lehane and Celeste Ng, and then you have like the most non-pop writers imaginable like Cartarescu.
 
B

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Verkhovensky said:
At least now many authors will have blurbs with "From Dublin Literary Award longlisted author" til the end of their careers, boosting their sales at least a little bit.

Edit: A very diverse list... you have some "pop" writers like Dennis Lehane and Celeste Ng, and then you have like the most non-pop writers imaginable like Cartarescu.
Click to expand...

Maybe until they receive a call from Mats Malm for "evocation of masquerades and beings." ?
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
Stevie B said:
What do you know about this author and book? The novel's cover art is very unique. It makes "Crooked Plow" appear to be a children's book, though I'm guessing it's not.
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Crooked Plow/Torto Arado is at present one of the most important (if not the most important) novel recently written. It shows an archaic country seen from the point of view of the protagonist and their families. And I dare to affirm that it includes the spirit that at one certain point becomes the narrator.
I found an extensive review https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/crooked-plow-itamar-vieira-junior/, but it has several spoilers.
That said, I fully agree with you. I dislike the cover, because it really looks like a children´s book. Compare it with the originals.

First cover, Brazilian edition: 1705517808752.png
 
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