Shortlist for 2026 Dublin Literary Award announced

The shortlist for this year's Dublin Literary Award has been announced.

Featuring six works of fiction selected from nominations submitted by libraries around the world, the shortlist includes award-winning Scottish author Ali Smith's Gliff and The Emperor of Gladness by Vietnamese-American writer Ocean Vuong.

The shortlist also includes four translated works (three translated from French and one from Croatian), such as Perspectives by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor and Live Fast by Brigitte Giraud, translated by Cory Stockwell.

Other shortlisted nominees whose works were translated include debut novelists Magdalena Blažević's In Late Summer, translated by Anđelka Raguž and What I Know About You by Éric Chacour, translated by Pablo Strauss.

A six-member international judging panel, chaired by Professor Chris Morash, will select the winner of the 31st Dublin Literary Award.

The prizewinner will then be announced at a gala event, during Dublin City Council's International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) on Thursday, May 21, by Patron of the Award Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ray McAdam.

The Dublin Literary Award is the world's most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, with the winner receiving €100,000 or if the book has been translated, with the author receiving €75,000 and the translator €25,000.

All the novels nominated will be available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and public libraries around Ireland. They can also be borrowed as eBooks, and some as eAudiobooks on the Borrowbox app, which is available to all public library users.

Last year's winner was Canadian author Michael Crummey with The Adversary, a novel that explores the themes of love, power and corruption.

The ILFD will run from May 15 to 24 in Merrion Square Park.