Receive Our Newsletter
For news of readings, events and new titles.
Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor wins 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor is the winner of the 2012 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. The Award is organized by Dublin City Libraries, on behalf of Dublin City Council and sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company. The €100,000 prize is the largest prize for a single novel published in English. Uniquely, the IMPAC DUBLIN receives its nominations from public libraries around the globe.
Jon McGregor is a British writer and the author of two other critically acclaimed novels.
More about the winner
"Even the Dogs is an intimate exploration of life at the edges of society – littered with love, loss, despair, and a half-glimpse of redemption,” said the Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Andrew Montague, announcing the winner at a ceremony in Dublin's Mansion House on 15th June. Mr McGregor, born in Bermuda and raised in England, received the trophy and a cheque for €100,000 at the presentation dinner following the announcement.
The winning novelbeat off competition from 146 other titles, nominated by 162 public libraries from 45 countries. Itwas first published in the UK by Bloomsbury. The shortlist of ten novels, as chosen by an international panel of expert judges included novels from the USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Israel. Jon McGregor is the third British author to win the prize. It was awarded to Andrew Miller in 1999 for Ingenious Pain and to Nicola Barker in 2000 for Wide Open.
“Even the Dogs is a worthy winner from a truly international shortlist,” says Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian. “The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2012 shortlist included authors from Australia (Jon Bauer), Brazil (Cristovao Tezza), the USA (Jennifer Egan, Karl Marlantes and Willy Vlautin), Canada (David Bergen), Israel (Yishai Sarid) and Britain (Tim Pears, Animatta Forna and Jon McGregor). All the shortlisted books as well as copies of the 147 novels nominated for the 2012 Award, are available to borrow from Dublin public libraries.”
The international judges said:
Even the Dogs is a fearless experiment which shows us in close-up detail the lives of a gathering of homeless addicts as they go about their daily forage for shelter, drink or a fix. In a masterpiece of narrative technique, the viewpoint shifts and morphs through the lives of a handful of derelicts who stumble and fall, stumble and fall as they seek to redeem themselves from addiction, homelessness and those impulses which too often rise up within them and defeat their best interests . . .
Even the Dogs was nominated by M.I. Rudomino State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow, Russia.
The 2012 shortlisted novels were Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer, The Matter with Morris by David Bergen, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, The Memory of Love by Animatta Forna, Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, Landed by Tim Pears , Limassol by Yishai Sarid,The Eternal Son by Cristovão Tezza and Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin.
See www.impacdublinaward.ie for full details of the International IMPAC Dublin Award.