Kevin Barry is the sole Irish nominee on the shortlist for the 2012 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the world’s biggest prize for a collection of stories.
His book Dark Lies the Island is joined on the six-strong list announced yesterday, by collections from Americans Nathan Englander and Lucia Perillo, Israeli Etgar Keret, New Zealander Fiona Kidman and British writer Sarah Hall.
Englander is effectively nominated twice, because, as the translator of Keret’s novel Suddenly A Knock on the Door, he and Keret will split the prize money if the book wins.
If Barry lands the Frank O’Connor award, he will have had a lucrative year, having already won the £30,000 (€37,000) Sunday Times EFG Private Bank award for his story Beer Trip to Llandudno.
The winner of the O’Connor award, organised by Munster Literature Centre and funded by Cork City Council, will be announced on July 5th and the prize will be presented at Cork International Short Story Festival in September. The judges are the Hiberno-British poet James Harpur, Irish novelist Mary Leland and festival organiser Ann Luttrell.