Several of the most interesting writers currently at work such as Britain's Martin Amis feature in the long list for the 2008 International Impac Dublin Literary Award.
The 137-book list, which was announced in Dublin yesterday, not only includes the largest Irish contingent to date, six, it also brings together some of the most revered names in US writing such as the elder statesmen, Philip Roth, John Updike and the enigmatic Thomas Pynchon, as well as the great Richard Ford, Anne Tyler and Paul Auster.
New Zealander Lloyd Jones has been nominated for Mister Pip, which may compensate for losing this year's Man Booker to Anne Enright's The Gathering.
Patrick McCabe's Winterwood, considered by some critics to be his best work, features as does Colum McCann's historical novel, Zoli. Claire Kilroy has been deservedly nominated for her original second novel, Tenderwire. Another Irish writer on the long list is John Boyne whose The Boy in the Striped Pyjamashas been a bestseller since its publication early in 2006.
The US-based Michael Collins is long-listed with The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton. Alison Jameson's This Man and Mecompletes the largest Irish Impac contingent to date.
Also on the list is The Vanishing Art of Esme Lennoxby Maggie O'Farrell, born in Northern Ireland but brought up in Scotland and Wales.
As is usually the case, North American fiction is strongly represented. This year sees 34 US writers and 11 Canadians, including literary prize long and short list regular, Margaret Atwood. Of the 16 English writers nominated none has as powerful a claim as Martin Amis. House of Meetings, which draws on the horrors of Russia's Gulag as one brother, now gruff and ageing, tells the story of a complicated passion he shared with his brother for the same woman. This is Amis at his best and he would be a terrific winner.
Now in its 12th year, Impac is an international prize worth €100,000 to the winner. It has served literature, and particularly readers, well. The contenders are nominated by libraries from all over the world and this process has proved effective in alerting readers not only to contrasting cultural tastes but also highlights writers from the non-English speaking world who are available in translation such as Sweden's Per Olov Enquist again nominated, this time for The Story of Blanche and Marie.
International bestselling author of Soldiers of Salamis, Spanish writer Javier Cercas has been nominated for his subtle second novel The Speed of Light. It is also intriguing to see Silkauthor Italian Alessandro Baricco, nominated for An Iliad, his daring prose version of Homer's epic as is Eva Menasse's impressive debut, Vienna,which recreates the story of a half-Jewish Viennese family within the wider context of European history.
Kenya's Ngugi wa Thiong's ambitious attempt "to sum up Africa" Wizard of the Crowshould, through this listing, reach a larger audience, while some of India's finest writers Vikram Chandra, Upamanyu Chatterjee and Anita Rau Badami all feature. The 2004 Impac winner, Morocccan Tahar Ben Jelloun, has been nominated for The Last Friend, while former double Booker winner Australian Peter Carey features with Theft: A Love Story.
2006 Man Booker winner Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Losshas also impressed the libraries although it would be an unlikely winner. It is early days yet with five months wait before the short list on April 2nd. Expect to see Richard Ford's majestic hymn to the US in crisis, The Lay of The Land, Amis and Ngugi on the short list. Should Thomas Pynchon's Against The Dayemerge as a contender we may finally see the face of the writer whose cartoon self appeared on the Simpson's peering at the world from under a brown paper bag.
The six Irish authors on the list:
Patrick McCabe: Winterwood
Colum McCann: Zoli.
Claire Kilroy: Tenderwire.
John Boyne: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Michael Collins: The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton
Alison Jameson: This Man and Me