Two Irish authors make Man Booker long list

Irish authors have taken two of the 13 slots on the Man Booker Prize 2014 longlist announced today.

Cork native now living in the US, Joseph O’Neill has been nominated for his novel ‘The Dog’, described the the publisher as “a tale of alienation and heartbreak in Dubai.” His 2008 novel Netherland previously made the Booker long list but failed to make the short list.

Also nominated is Co Clare based writer Niall Williams for his eighth novel 'History of the Rain', which is a family saga. Born in Dublin in 1958, he moved to New York in 1980 then back to Co Clare on April 1st, 1985,

American writers hold four of the slots on this year’s list in the first year the prestigious literary award has been open to all authors writing in English and published in the United Kingdom.

The change that scrapped the old rule limiting the 46-year-old prize, which carries a £50,000 (€63,000) award, to novels written by citizens of Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, has been criticised on grounds that Americans would come to dominate it, squeezing out other talent.

But in announcing the long list, Jonathan Taylor, chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation, said that by making the change, “the Man Booker Prize is reinforcing its standing as the most important literary award in the English-speaking world”.

The prize committee said 154 books had been entered for this year’s prize, which will be further whittled down to a short list of six books to be announced on September 9th. The winner will be named on October 14th .

The books on the long list are:

Joshua Ferris (American) ‘To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

Richard Flanagan (Australian) ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Karen Joy Fowler (American) ‘We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves’

Siri Hustvedt (American) ‘The Blazing World’

Howard Jacobson (British) ‘J’

Paul Kingsnorth (British) ‘The Wake’

David Mitchell (British) ‘The Bone Clocks’

Neel Mukherjee (British) ‘The Lives of Others’

David Nicholls (British) ‘Us’

Joseph O’Neill (Irish/American) ‘The Dog’

Richard Powers (American) ‘Orfeo’

Ali Smith (British) ‘How to be Both’

Niall Williams (Irish) ‘History of the Rain’