The Dublin Literary Award, an annual award which seeks to spotlight books from around the world through nominations from public libraries, has announced its longlist for 2026. The Award seeks to collaborate with libraries in Dublin and worldwide to support work both from Ireland and abroad, with a prize worth €100,000 for a single work of English or translated fiction.
In its 30th year, running the Award since 1996, the Dublin Literary Award will further announce its shortlist in April, with an awards ceremony taking place in May, during the International Literary Festival in Dublin.
Among the Irish longlist nominees are Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and, notably, Sally Rooney for her book Intermezzo. Ní Mhaoileoin was nominated by Libraries Northern Ireland for her book Ordinary Saints, which follows the themes of Catholicism, family, and childhood.
Other notable nominees include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for her book Dream Count, Nobel Prize Winner Olga Tokarczuk for The Empusium, Ocean Vuong for The Emperor of Gladness and Elif Shafak for There are Rivers in The Sky.
The list features five other works of translated fiction, other than Tokarczuk, with Laurent Binet and his French novel Perspectives, Magdalena Blažević’s In Late Summer, translated from Croatian, Éric Chacour’s French novel What I Know About You, Brigitte Giraud’s Live Fast also translated from French, and finally, Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s The Brittle Age, translated from Italian.
The remaining nominees, which include Aria Aber, Evie Wyld, Rachel Kusher, Jeminah Wei, Maria Reva, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Ali Smith, Karen Russell, and Alan Hollinghurst, are all nominated for pieces of English fiction.
In April, this list will be narrowed down to just six nominees. To find out more about the individual novels and authors nominated, visit the website of the Dublin Literary Award here.
