Sunset Oasis longlisted for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

15 November 2010

The English translation of Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher, winner of the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction, has been longlisted for 2011 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It is up against other award-winning titles such as Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize), The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (winner of the 2010 Orange Prize) and Brodeck’s Report by Phillippe Claudel, winner of the 2010 Independent Prize for Fiction.

The English translation by Humphrey Davies, which was published by Sceptre (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton) in the UK in September 2009, was funded by IPAF as a result of Bahaa Taher winning the Prize in 2008. It is the first of the IPAF winning titles to appear in English.

The €100,000 IMPAC literary award, presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English, involves libraries from all corners of the globe and is open to books written in any language by authors of any nationality. Sunset Oasis was nominated by Zentralbibliothek Zurich, Switzerland. The award is an initiative of Dublin City Council, the municipal government of Dublin, in partnership with IMPAC.

The shortlist will be made public on 12th April 2011 and the Lord Mayor of Dublin will announce the winner on 15th June. The 2011 Judging Panel includes Irish author, John Boyne; Susan Bassnett, British writer, translator and academic; Nancy Huston, Canadian / French author; Michael Hofman, German poet and translator and Tessa Hadley, Welsh author and academic. The Non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan.

Humphrey Davies’ translation of Sunset Oasis was also longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in March 2010.