International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award longlist

       They've announced the longlist for the 2014 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award -- a €100,000 prize for which books are nominated by libraries, and which considers any novel "first published in English between 1st January 2012 and 31st December 2012" (whether in translation or not). (More on the issues with that selection process below .....)
       The longlist consists of 152 titles, of which 41 are translations (including 7 from the German, 6 from Italian, and 4 each from the French and Dutch).
       Several longlisted titles are under review at the complete review:

• The Canvas by Benjamin Stein
  
  
• The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey
  
  
• A Death in the Family (US title: My Struggle: Book One) by Karl Ove Knausgaard
  
  
• The Detour (US title: Ten White Geese) by Gerbrand Bakker
  
  
• The Dinner by Herman Koch
  
  
• Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas
  
  
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Twan Eng Tan
  
  
• The Guard by Peter Terrin
  
  
• HHhH by Laurent Binet
  
  
• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
  
  
• The Illicit Happiness of Other People by Manu Joseph
  
  
• In One Person by John Irving
  
  
• The Lower River by Paul Theroux
  
  
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  
  
• Ru by Kim Thúy
  
  
• Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque
  
  
• [Traveller of the Century by Andrés Neuman]
  
  
• The Voyage by Murray Bail

       It's great that they are willing to consider literature in translation -- but the lack of translations from many of the world's (non-European ...) languages points to a fundamental flaw in the selection process. Yes, there are no nominations at all translated from the Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Russian, among other languages. Why is pretty clear: the nominating libraries don't include any from any Arabic-speaking country, nor any from China or Japan. There is a Russian library -- bit that's the Library for Foreign Literature, and they actually nominated non-Russian titles -- unlike many of the other flag-waving libraries which preferred to nominate local talent .....
       That's the other problem with the selection process: sure, if the Slovenian library doesn't nominate a Slovenian author we're unlikely to hear about the book ..... I could live with that -- if other literatures (especially major ones, including China, Japan, and the entire Arabic-speaking region, among others) were afforded similar opportunities -- but for some reason they're not. That's problematic.
       I also have a small problem with the "published in English" in 2012 rule -- or rather: its interpretation. Look, I'm thrilled that Lasha Bugadze's The Literature Express has been longlisted (nominated by a Georgian library, of course ...), and I can't wait to get my copy from Dalkey Archive Press (they're publishing it early next year; see their publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), but it doesn't really seem fair for it to be counted. Yes, apparently it was published -- in this English translation -- in 2012, by Bakur Sulakauri Publishing (ISBN 978-9942-15-730-1), but how many people have had access to a copy ? Where the hell -- outside Georgia -- could you find it ? WorldCat can't find a single library with a copy. I'm sorry, if a book wasn't vaguely readily accessible, it shouldn't be included. (By all means, for the 2016 prize, the Dalkey edition of The Literature Express should be considered -- but now ? no.)