The International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award  is sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland, and the company IMPAC. Works of fiction are nominated by public libraries from around the world.

It is one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The 142-book 2015 longlist features 11 Canadian authors!

Alistair MacLeod won the prize for his novel No Great Mischief in 2001, and Rawi Hage – for De Niro’s Game in 2008. The Canadian books on the 2015 longlist are:

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake trilogy

“A conclusion to the trilogy finds Toby and Ren returning to the MaddAddamite cob house after rescuing Amanda and assuming the duties of the Craker’s religious overseers while Zeb searches for the founder of the pacifist green religion he left years earlier.”

The Strangers’ Gallery by Paul Bowdring

St. John’s archivist Michael Lowe’s life is turned on its head when a Dutch acquaintance, Anton Aalders, arrives on his doorstep in 1995. Anton is searching for a father he never met, ostensibly a Newfoundland soldier who was part of the Allied forces that liberated the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War. The Strangers’ Gallery is a finely crafted, at times humorous, novel about the painful search for identity – both political and personal. – Novelist

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

“Boyden’s novel tells the story of the French conquest of Canada from the point of view of both the conquerors and the conquered. Set in the early 1600s, as the French were exploring today’s Canadian province of Ontario, Boyden’s narrative depicts in compelling detail how the French exploited ancient enmities between the Iroquois and Huron tribes to speed their conquest of New France.”

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

“In 1866, a weary Englishman lands in a gold-mining frontier town on the coast of New Zealand to make his fortune and forever leave behind his family’s shame. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have met in secret to investigate what links three crimes that occurred on a single day, events in which each man finds himself implicated in some way: the town’s wealthiest man has vanished.”

Three Souls by Janie Chang

“Civil war China is fractured by social and political change. Behind the magnificent gates of the Song family estate, however, none of this upheaval has touched Leiyin, a spoiled and idealistic teenager. But when Leiyin meets the captivating left-wing poet Hanchin, she defies her father and learns a harsh reality: that her father has the power to dictate her fate. Leiyin’s punishment for disobedience leads to exile from her family, an unwanted marriage and ultimately a lover’s betrayal – followed by her untimely death.”

For Sure by France Daigle

For Sure tells the story of Terry and Carmen and their children and the people who are drawn towards the Babar, the local bar in Moncton. The novel also tackles the topics of numbers, the Chiac language and minority cultures. – Novelist

Under Budapest by Ailsa Kay

“The drama and ravages of the Hungarian Revolution are seen through interconnected stories set in 1956 and 2010 of two North American Hungarian families who have gone back to Hungary for reasons which they have kept to themselves.”

Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little

“Cast out by mainstream society, a gang of teenage girls known as the “Black Roses” rob ATMs, cook crack on stoves, and savagely beat down anyone who dares to harm them. Brutal and broken, they claw at the knot of darkness and violence that tightens around their lives.”

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

“Relegated to the status of schoolteacher and friendly neighbor after abandoning her dreams of becoming an artist, Nora advocates on behalf of a charismatic Lebanese student and is drawn into the child’s family until his artist mother’s careless ambition leads to a shattering betrayal.”

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Nao Yasutani is a Japanese schoolgirl who plans to kill herself as a way of escaping her dreary life. First, though, she intends to write in her diary the life story of her great-grandmother Jiko, a Zen Buddhist nun. But Nao actually ends up writing her own life story, and the diary eventually washes up on the shore of Canada’s Vancouver Island, where a novelist called Ruth lives.- Novelist

Love Letters of the Angels of Death by Jennifer Quist

“Brigs, in the company of his wife Caroline, discovers the body of his mother in her mobile home. On his shoulders falls the burden of arranging the funeral. Brigs and Caroline turn out to be the only ones taking responsibility for the burial. By the time the burial is over they understand this will always be their role in future funerals, to liaise with death on behalf of the people they love.”

The shortlist for the 2015 award will be announced on April 15, 2015 and the winner will be revealed on June 17, 2015.