NW Authors on Shortlist for Major Prize

Two northwest authors of bestselling novels have made the shortlist for the 2012 IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award: Karl Marlantes (who grew up in Seaside and now lives in Western Washington) for his Vietnam-era novel Matterhorn and Willy Vlautin (who lives just outside of Portland) for his Oregon-Book-Award-winning novel at the racetrack, Lean on Pete.

Karl and Willy join Jennifer Egan (for A Visit from the Goon Squad) to represent the US. A total of ten books are on the shortlist, representing a variety of countries, including Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Israel, Sierra Leone, and Scotland. Titles were nominated by public libraries in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, The Netherlands, and the United States. The five-member international judging panel will select one winner, who will be announced in June

The award is the world’s most valuable annual literary award for a single work of fiction published in English. Previous winners include Colum McCann, Michael Thomas, and Per Petterson. Congratulations to all of the shortlisted authors, but especially to Karl and Willy! Here's a little video clip of Willy talking about his book.