Jon McGregor wins IMPAC award
14th June 2012 - 1:46pm
The 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the world's richest literary prize for a single title, has been won by Jon McGregor for Even the Dogs.
The EUR 100,000 (GBP 80,000) prize is organised by Dublin City Libraries on behalf of Dublin City Council and presented each year to a book published in English two years before the year of the award.
It is one of the most unique global literary prizes, as initial nominations are made by public libraries across the world, before a judging panel whittles down the candidates to a shortlist and an eventual winner.
McGregor, a British writer who was born in Bermuda but raised in England, received the award during a ceremony at Dublin's Mansion House, where his novel was praised by the judges.
'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,' the panel wrote.
'The greatest compliment we can pay the novel is that we will go back to read it again - to relive it, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its men and women and to bear witness to their trials and sufferings.'
McGregor becomes the third British author to win the award, after Andrew Miller triumphed in 1999 for Ingenious Pain and Nicola Barker won the 2000 prize for Wide Open.