Dublin Literary Award 2023 winner
Dublin Literary Award 2023 shortlist in DCU Library
The Dublin Literary Award is a highlight of the literary awards calendar, promoting excellence in world literature. It is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English. On 25th May 2023 'Marzahn Mon Amour' was announced as this year's winner. Author Katja Oskamp will receive a prize of €75,000 with €25,000 awarded to the English translator Jo Heinrich.
It's an award that is close to our hearts as nominations are submitted by libraries in major cities throughout the world. The award is sponsored by Dublin City Council and administered by Dublin City Libraries.
The winning title and five shortlisted titles are now available to borrow from DCU Library. The print editions of the titles can be found on display shelves by the stairs on the ground floor of both Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library. Five of the six titles are also available as ebooks.
Read more about each title below and click on the link under each title description to check its availability in DCU Library. You will get the option to reserve the book in Library Search if all print copies are out on loan. Most of the titles are also available as ebooks, to learn more watch our video about how to find and access ebooks.
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DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD WINNER
Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp
Our narrator finds her career as a writer faltering and decides to switch to a new job as a chiropodist. Here she finds herself listening intently to her clients and the novel is built around their stories. Their histories reveal their disappointments, loves, vulnerabilities, rages and joys and form a greater portrait that illustrates how individuals are shaped by the machine of history.
Check availability in Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library or as an ebook
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Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
This novel focuses on five main characters who live in three different historical periods. Two of the characters live in 1452 at a time when Constantinople is under siege. Two live in Idaho in 2014 and the fifth character lives on a spaceship in ‘Mission Years’ 55-64. Their stories are artfully linked together by a fictional text: Antonius Diogenes’ Cloud Cuckoo Land.
Check availability in Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library or as an ebook
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Em by Kim Thúy
In this novel, the reader is introduced to the impact of the Vietnam War through the stories of interlinked characters. The book allows us to pass through their painful experiences and emerge with a faint feeling of hope. A favourite character is the street orphan, Louis. Alone in Saigon, he learns to survive by seeing into the heart of anyone he meets.
Check availability in Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library or as an ebook
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The Trees by Percival Everett
In this compelling novel, Percival Everett combines horror and supernatural fiction to explore the legacy of racially-inspired hate crimes in the United States. The story forms around a series of grisly crimes, a pair of wise-cracking detectives, and a mysterious old lady who lives on the edge of town. The novel is a powerful wake-up call, as well as an act of literary restoration.
Check availability in Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library or as an ebook
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Paradais by Fernanda Melchor
Inside a luxury housing complex in Mexico, two teenagers sneak around and get drunk. Franco Andrade is fixated on his attractive neighbour while Polo dreams about quitting his job as a gardener and fleeing their village. The novel explores the fragility of Mexican society and how the desires and hardships of teenagers can tear life apart at the seams.
Check availability in Cregan Library and O'Reilly Library or as an ebook
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Love Novel by Ivana Sajko
Ivana Sajko takes us into a war between kitchen and bedroom. He is trying to change the world and write a novel. She has given up her safe job at the theatre to care for their child. He is delirious, she is on edge. With the rent overdue and violence looming on all sides, the two of them circle one another as personal circumstances close in on them.