The longlist for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award has just been announced. Seventy-one books have been nominated by 83 libraries from 34 countries. I don't normally write about this award, but it is a delicious list of titles.
The 2025 Longlist is:
- Pip Adam - Audition
- Kaveh Akbar - Martyr!
- Selva Almada - Not a River
- Stefani Auci - The Triumph of the Lions
- Muriel Barbery - One Hour of Fervor
- Colin Barrett - Wild Houses
- Lou Berney - Dark Ride
- Sarah Bernstein - Study for Obedience
- Gerda Blees - We Are Light
- Maya Binyam - Hangman
- Ivana Bodrozic - Sons, daughters
- Meihan Boey - The Enigmatic Madam Ingram
- John Boyne - Water
- Rita Bullwinkel - Headshot
- Dulce Maria Cardoso - Eliete: A Normal Life
- Steven Caroll - Death of a Foreign Gentleman
- Yagsze Choo - The Fox Wife
- Michael Crummey - The Adversary
- David Diop - Beyond the Door of No Return
- Elisa Shua Dusapin - Vladivostok Circus
- Percival Everett - James
- Laurence Fearnley - At the Grand Glacier Hotel
- Dominique Fortier - Pale Shadows
- Ia Genberg - The Details
- Sinead Gleeson - Hagstone
- Norhafsah Hamid - If Only You Remember
- Kristin Hannah - The Women
- Siamak Herawi - Tali Girls: A Novel of Afghanistan
- Catherine Hernandez - Behind You
- Bo-reum Hwang - Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
- Frida Isberg - The Mark
- Howard Jacobson - What Will Survive of Us
- Michel Jean - Kukum
- Juhani Karila - Fishing for the Little Pike
- Shubnum Khan - The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil
- Nicole Lagioia - The City of the Living
- Ariel Lawhon - The Frozen River
- Aube Rey Lescure - River East, River West
- Hilary Leichter - Terrance Story
- Catherine Leroux - The Future
- Melissa Lucashenko - Edenglassie
- Paul Lynch - Prophet Song
- John Marrs - The Family Experiment
- Daniel Mason - North Woods
- James McBride - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- Sara Mesa - Un Amor
- Elizabeth O'Connor - Whale Fall
- Nuala O'Connor - Seaborne
- Andrew O'Hagan - Caledonian Road
- Chigozie Obioma - The Road to the Country
- Orla Owen - Christ on a Bike
- LJ Pemberton - Still Alive
- Emily Perkins - Lioness
- Sebastijan Pregelj - In Elvis' Room
- Lucas Rijneveld - My Heavenly Favourite
- Deborah Rodriguez - Farewell to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
- Mohmed Mbougar Sarr - The Most Secret Memory of Men
- Lutz Seiler - Star 111
- Umar Abubakar Sidi - The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus
- Sheyla Smanioto - Out of Earth
- Ingrid Storholmen - Here Lay Tirpitz
- Vikas Swaroop - The Girl with Seven Lives
- Morgan Talty - Fire Exit
- Colm Toibin - Long Island
- Andrea Tompa - Home
- Justin Torres - Blackouts
- Christos Tsiolkas - The In-Between
- Tanguy Viel - The Girl You Call
- Douglas Westerbeke - A Short Walk Through a Wide World
- Don Winslow - City in Ruins
- Charlotte Wood - Stone Yard Devotional
Of these titles I have read and loved: James, Long Island, and Stone Yard Devotional. On my list to read are the novels by Hannah, Lucashenko, Leroux, Lynch, O'Hagan, and Tsiolkas.
Many of these books are familiar to me from awards last year. Several titles were on the Booker Prize Longlist in 2024 - Barrett, Bullwinkel, Everett, and Wood, with Paul Lynch winning the Booker in 2023 for Prophet Song. Lucashenko's Edenglassie was on the 2024 Stella Prize Longlist, while the novels by Binyam and Lescure were on the 2024 Women's Prize Longlist. The translated novels by Almada and Genberg were on the International Booker Longlist in 2024.
It is wonderful to see Australian authors like Wood, Lucashenko and Tsiolkas doing well overseas.
Of the longest, the Patron of the Award - the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emma Blain said:
“For over 30 years The Dublin Literary Award has connected readers through the best of fiction from around the world. I am delighted to see that this year’s longlist continues to reflect the breadth of imagination we associate with the award showcasing cultures, traditions and unique perspectives.”
The Shortlist will be announced on 25 March 2025 with the winner of the 100,000 Euro prize declared on 22 May 2025. Happy Reading!
