MOLESKINE ® LITERARIO

Ya apareció la Longlist del premio IMPAC 2010. Como saben, esta extensa lista -más de 150 títulos- ha sido elegida por 163 librerías de todo el mundo, entre las mejores novelas escritas o traducidad al inglés cada año. Luego, un jurado seleccionará una shortlist y finalmente, un ganador, que es recibido en Dublín para la premiación. El año pasado, fue el norteamericano Michael Thomas con Man Gone Down.

Entre los nominados en castellano este año destacan los colombianos Juan Gabriel Vásquez (The Informers translated by Anne McLean) y Eevelio Rosero (The Armies translated by Anne McLean), la mexicana Cecilia Urbina ( A Tuesday Like Today translated by Clare E. Sullivan) y el argentino Martín Caparros (Valfierno: the man who stole the Mona Lisa translated by Jasper Reid).

Etiquetas: evelio rosero, impac, irlanda, juan gabriel vasquez, martin caparros, michael thomas, PREMIO

El prestigioso premio IMPAC nuevamente da un golpe y patea el tablero. El ganador de este premio, que tiene más de cien candidatos elegidos por librerías del mundo y luego una shortlist escogida por un jurado, fue un debutante: Michael Thomas con Man Gone Down. 100,000 euros van para él. Dice la nota en The Guardian:

A debut novelist who says he's never really had a proper job has won the world's richest literary award. American writer Michael Thomas beat authors including Philip Roth, Doris Lessing and Joyce Carol Oates to take the €100,000 (£85,000) Impac Dublin prize with his debut novel, Man Gone Down. "I'm stunned," Thomas said today, in Dublin for the prize ceremony from his home town of New York. "I had a hard time believing I'd made the shortlist – or the longlist, for that matter – so I'm still waiting for the punch line." Currently a professor at Hunter College in New York, he said he'd use his winnings to "pay some bills". "It's too late to bet on myself [winning]," he said. "I've had an interesting life up until now, so I may get a little more conservative. I've got three kids, a mortgage, a half-built house ..." Man Gone Down is a stream-of-consciousness narrative by a black man from Boston, married to a white woman with whom he has three children. The story stretches over a four-day period, with the unnamed narrator on the eve of his 35th birthday, broke and estranged from his family, with just four days to find the money to keep his family afloat. Described by the judging panel as an "extraordinary novel ... from a writer of enthralling voice and startling insight", Thomas said he'd written it at a time when he was "feeling a little desperate" himself. It beat seven other shortlisted novels – including Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Junot Díaz's Pulitzer-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Indra Sinha's Booker-shortlisted Animal's People - and an international longlist of 147 titles, nominated by libraries around the world, to take the prize. "We never know his name. But the African-American protagonist of Michael Thomas's masterful debut, Man Gone Down, will stay with readers for a long time," said the panel of judges, which included the novelists Rachel Billington and Timothy Taylor. "Tuned urgently to the way we live now, [Man Gone Down] is a novel brilliant in its scope and energy, and deeply moving in its human warmth."

La shortlist completa incluyó, además del ganador, a: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz; The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen, in translation; Ravel by Jean Echenoz, in translation; Animal’s People by Indra Sinha; The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid; The Archivist’s Story by Travis Holland and The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt.

Etiquetas: eeuu, hamid, impac, junot díaz, michael thomas, PREMIO, sinha

El año pasado, Per Petterson y su novela Out Stealing Horses se llevó este singular premio en que los libreros del mundo (161 librerías en 121 ciudades) elaboran una "longlist" de más de 100 candidatos y, luego de una criba angustiante, deciden una "shortlist" y, días después, un ganador de 100,000 euros. La "longlist" para otorgar el premio en el 2008 ya está en línea. La "shortlist" será compuesta el 2 de abril y el 12 de junio se conocerá al ganador.

La nota en The Guardian destaca a algunos candidatos: "Nonetheless, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Biafra tale Half of a Yellow Sun, has garnered a good number of nominations and also has form, having won the Orange prize earlier this year. Similarly, Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss has achieved an impressive spread of support - with libraries in the US, Scandinavia, South America, eastern Europe and Africa nominating her Kalimpong-set story. Despite only getting support from Finland's Helsinki library, Spain's Javier Cercas is also likely to be a frontrunner with The Speed of Light, his metafictional account of a novelist grappling with the story of a Vietnam veteran. Cormac McCarthy, already in possession of the Pulitzer and the James Tait Black for The Road, his bleak vision of a post-apocalyptic America, is also a good bet to make it to the next stage. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who wins support from libraries as far afield as Russia, South Africa, Ireland and the Gambia, should also be in with a shout. The Kenyan author's contender is Wizard of the Crow, a novel which is, he says, an attempt "to sum up Africa of the 20th century in the context of 2,000 years of world history". However, part of the fun of this list is finding out where UK writers have their fans abroad. Martin Amis's House of Meetings gets one nomination - from Warsaw Public Library. Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother, his follow-up to the phenomenally successful The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, gets the seal of approval from Belgium's Ghent library. Robert Harris's Imperium, about the treacherous world of ancient Roman politics is popular with library-goers in Bloemfontein, South Africa while Stef Penney's Costa-winning The Company of Wolves, about prospecting in 1860s Canada, strikes a chord in Poland and Australia. Diane Setterfield's gothic suspense novel The Thirteenth Tale, which hit the headlines for securing its first-time author an astounding £800,000 advance, is big in Uganda and Sweden.

Etiquetas: impac, irlanda, NOTICIA, petterson, PREMIO

No es el premio más importante de ficción en inglés, pero sí el más abultado económicamente con sus 100,000 euros. El noruego Per Petterson acaba de ganar el premio IMPAC Dublín con su novela Salir a robar caballos (publicada en castellano por Ediciones B). La noticia está en "Milenio" y en inglés de "The Guardian".

Para leer la contratapa del libro, pulse aquí.

Según la nota, la novela comienza en 1948, cuando Trond tiene 15 años y pasa un verano en el campo con su padre. Cuando Trond se retira a una zona aislada de Noruega a los 67 años, un encuentro casual con un personaje de aquel verano le recuerda memorias dolorosas.

El ganador fue seleccionado por un grupo de cinco jurados internacionales que previamente eligieron a los finalistas de entre 138 novelas nominadas por 169 librerías en 49 países. La lista de cuatro finalistas incluyó “Arthur and George” de Julian Barnes, “Shalimar the Clown” de Salman Rushdie, así como “No Country for Old Men” de Cormac McCarthy.

Etiquetas: impac, noruega, petterson, PREMIO, salir a robar caballos