The Dublin Literary Award nominations have been revealed, an award that allows international libraries to nominate one work of fiction, therefore achieving its aim to promote excellence in world literature.

For the 2026 Award, 69 titles have been nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, reflecting the best in fiction from Africa, Europe, Asia, USA, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

30 Books in Translation

The list features 20 debut authors, 30 translated titles in 17 languages including Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Japanese and Polish.

This year the judges will select a longlist of up to 20 titles, to be announced on 17 February 2026 and the shortlist of 6 titles will be revealed on 7 April 2026. The winner will be announced on 21 May 2026.

Below I have listed all the titles by the country the author comes from, and next to it, the library that nominated it. I find this useful, in particular when a library votes openly and not merely patriotically.

The Nominated Titles By Country of Author

New Zealand (4 titles)

1985: a novel by Dominic Hoey (Dunedin Public Libraries)

Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Auckland Council Libraries)

Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Wellington City Libraries) author of Aue

The Mires by Tina Makereti (Christchurch City Libraries)

Australia (4 titles)

First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn (State Library of Queensland)

Highway 13 by Fiona MacFarlane (National Library of Australia)

The Burrow by Melanie Cheng (State Library of NSW)

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman (State Library Victoria)

Ireland (5 titles)

Camarade by Theo Dorgan (Cork City Libraries)

Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey (Waterford City and County Libraries + Princess Grace Irish Library)

The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr (Galway Public Libraries)

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Redbridge Central Library + Liverpool Libraries)

Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin (Libraries NI)

Canada (3 titles)

Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards (Winnipeg Public Library)

The Weather Diviner by Elizabeth Murphy (Newfoundland and Labrador Public
Libraries)

What I Know About You by Éric Chacour tr. Pablo Strauss (Bibliothèque de Québec + Toronto Public Library)

USA (10 titles)

A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki (The Seattle Public Library)

Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma (DC Public Library)

Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Milwaukee Public Library)

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Chicago Public Library)

Good Girl by Aria Aber (Cleveland Public Library)

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert: A Novel by Bob the Drag Queen (LA Public Library)

The Antidote by Karen Russell (Iowa City Public Library + New Hampshire State Library)

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Hartford Public Library)

Model Home by Rivers Solomon (Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh)

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Bibliotheek Gent, Belgium)

United Kingdom (5)

The Names by Florence Knapp (Limerick City Library)

The Wager and the Bear by John Ironmonger (Norfolk Library)

Gliff by Ali Smith (Katona József Könyvtár, Hungary)

The Echoes by Evie Wyld (Bruges Public Library)

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst (Richland Library, North Carolina)

Turkey

There Are Rivers in the Sky: A Novel by Elif Shafak (Municipal Library of Prague + Biblioteca Nazionale “Vittorio Emanuele III” Napoli)

India

Great Eastern Hotel by Ruchir Joshi (India International Centre)

Egypt

The Dissenters by Youssef Rakha (Fingal Libraries)

Nigeria

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Almeida Garrett Municipal Library, Portugal + Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam + Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt)

Zimbabwe

The Creation of Half-Broken People by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (City of Cape Town Library, S.Africa)

Malaysia

Leading Ledang by Fadzlishah Johanabas (National Library of Malaysia)

South Korea

Luminous by Silvia Park (Bucheon City Library)

Singapore

The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei (National Library Board Singapore)

Ukraine

Endling by Maria Reva (Ottawa Public Library)

In Translation

Norway

Back in the Day by Oliver Lovrenski tr. Nichola Smalley (Leipziger Städtische Bibliotheken, Germany)

Germany (3 titles)

Blurred by Iris Wolff tr. Ruth Martin (City Library Heidelberg)

Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi tr. Caroline Waight (Oslo + Bergen Public Library)

Murder at the Castle: A Miss Merkel Mystery by David Safier tr. Jamie Bulloch (Stadtbibliothek Bremen)

Austria

Darkenbloom by Eva Manesse tr. Charlotte Collins (Zentralbibliothek Zürich)

France (3 titles)

Dear Dickhead: A Novel by Virginie Despentes tr. Frank Wynne (Mediathèque de la Grande Garenne)

Live Fast by Brigitte tr. Giraud Cory Stockwell (Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon)

Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet tr.Sam Taylor (Bibliothèques municipales de Genève)

Italy

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico tr. Sophie Hughes (Biblioteca San Giorgio)

The Brittle Age by Donatella Di Pietrantonio tr. Ann Goldstein (Sistema Bibliotecario di Milano)

China

Diablo’s Boys by Yang Hao tr. Nicky Harman and Michael Day (Shanxi Library)

Japan (3 titles)

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami tr. Philip Gabriel (Frankfurt am Main Public Library)

Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami tr. Asa Yoneda (Tartu Public Library, Estonia)

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori (Saiwaicho Okayama Public Library)

Portugal

Dust in the Gale by João Morgado tr. José Manuel Godinho (Lisbon Libraries)

The Netherlands

I Will Live by Lale Gül tr. Kristen Gehrma (de Bibliotheek Eindhoven)

The Edges by Angelo Tijssens tr. Michele Hutchison (De Bibliotheek Utrecht + National Library of the Netherlands)

Finland

The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö tr. Kristian London (Helsinki City Library)

Iceland

The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir tr. Mary Robinette Kowal (Reykjavík City Library)

Poland

The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (”Octavian Goga” Cluj County Library, Romania)

Voracious by Małgorzata Lebda tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Municipal Public Library of Tadeusz Różewicz, Wrocław)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Late Summer by Magdalena Blažević tr. Anđelka Raguž (University Library of Bern, Switzerland)

Croatia

Red Water by Jurica Pavičić tr. Matt Robinson (Rijeka City Library)

Slovenia

My Kingdom is Dying by Evald Flisar tr. David Limon (Mariborska knjižnica + Ljubljana City Library)

Spain

Napalm in the Heart by Pol Guasch Mara tr. Faye Lethem (Catalan) (Biblioteca Vila de Gràcia)

The Voices of Adriana by Elvira Navarro tr. Christina MacSweeney (Biblioteca de Andalucía)

Argentina

Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro tr. Frances Riddle (Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, El Colegio de México)

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara Robin Myers (Biblioteca Utopía) author of The Adventures of China Iron

Brazil

The Tokyo Suite by Giovana Madalosso tr. Bruna Dantas Lobato (Mário de Andrade Library + Biblioteca Demonstrativa Maria da Conceição Moreira Salles)

I have read four of the novels listed Elif Shafak’s There Were Rivers in the Sky which is excellent; Time of the Flies by Claudia Pineiro, a brilliant novel, Ocean Vuong’s excellent The Emperor of Gladness and the true crime novella The Brittle Age by Donatella Di Pietrantonio. I am currently reading Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria). I also have the Evie Wyld on my shelf and I want to read We Are Green and Trembling and The Mires by Tina Makereti.

There’ll likely be more but I need to look at them more carefully.

Any here interest you, especially the books in translation?