This year’s Prix Goncourt went to Marie NDiaye for Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful Women). There’s great excitement over NDiaye being the first black woman ever to win this prestigious prize, France’s top literary award for French literature. What caught my eye, though, was the financial gift attached to the Goncourt: €10 or approximately $15. Seriously? Indeed. The Goncourt website says the financial bonus comes with the increased book sales that inevitably result from winning the award. At least, that’s how my French reads it.
Also this month, the long list for Ireland’s 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Award has been announced, and it is a very long list: 156 novels submitted by libraries in 43 countries.
Selecting books to read from this list is a great way to be introduced to international novels. The IMPAC award is open to novels written in any language, provided the work has been translated and published in English. (Get the list here.)
The Dublin (Ireland) City Council will announce the IMPAC shortlist on April 14, 2010. The winning novel will be announced on June 17, 2010. The award amount? A sweet €100,000 (around $140,000). This year’s winner was Michael Thomas for Man Gone Down, as written about on TLC.
The Longest Chapter 