Dublin - The winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is due to be announced Thursday. The eight novels shortlisted for one of the world's biggest literary prizes, worth 100,000 euros (155,000 dollars), include works by Irish author Patrick McCabe, Russian author Andrei Makine and Sri Lankan writer Yasmine Gooneratne.
The shortlist includes: The Speed of Light, by Javier Cercas; the Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne; De Niro's Game, by Rawi Hage; Dreams of Speaking, by Gail Jones; Let It Be Morning, by Sayed Kashua; the Attack, by Yasmina Khadra; the Woman Who Waited, by Andrei Makine; and Winterwood, by Patrick McCabe.
The long list of titles was released in 2007 and contained 137 works, many of which have been translated into English.
Last year's winner was Out Stealing Horses by Norwegian author Per Petterson. Previous winners have included Turkish Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk and Irish writer Colm Toibin.
A total of 162 libraries from all over the globe submit the nominations for the annual prize, which is the largest for a single work of fiction.
Dublin City Public Libraries administer the award, which is an initiative of the city council and IMPAC, a US-based productivity- improvement firm. It has been awarded since 1996.
