Aravind Adiga, Amitav Ghosh's works in Dublin literary award longlist

Besides Adiga's "Last Man in Tower" and Ghosh's "River of Smoke", "The Sly Company of People Who Care" by Rahul Bhattacharya and Indian-Canadian novelist Anita Rau Badami's "Tell It to the Trees" are in contention for the Euro 100,000 prize, presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English.

The books are nominated on the basis of 'high literary merit' by public libraries in cities throughout the world making the longlist unique in its coverage of international fiction.

The shortlist will be announced on April 9 and the winner declared on June 6 next year.

The award is an initiative of Dublin City Council, the municipal government of Dublin, in partnership with IMPAC, a management productivity enhancement company.

Organised by Dublin City Public Libraries, the 2013 Award was launched by Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise O Muiri.

"The 154 eligible nominations for the award come from 120 cities and 44 countries worldwide. 42 are titles in translation, spanning 19 languages and 47 are first novels.

"Like every year, you will find new books and new authors, particularly those novels in translation that you might otherwise never come across and you can pit yourself against the international panel of judges and pick your own favourite novel, before I announce the shortlist and then the winner next year," Muiri said.

The judges this year are Irish author Patrick Mc Cabe, Algerian novelist Salim Bachi, Estonian academic Krista Kaer, London-based Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie and British author-academic Clive Sinclair.

Among the other novels nominated for the 2013 Award are "The Sense of an Ending" by 2011 Man Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes, "Pure" by 2011 Costa Prize winner Andrew Miller and Patrick de Witt's "The Sisters Brothers".

Among the 42 translated authors are Haruki Murakami (Japan), Jean Echenoz (France), Umberto Eco (Italy), Roy Jacobsen (Norway) and Ingo Schulze (Germany).

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