Dublin Literary Award 2024

Solenoid is a vast, hallucinatory novel set in a surreal version of communist-era Bucharest. Following an unnamed schoolteacher, the book spirals through dreams, philosophy, memory, and metaphysical speculation. Cărtărescu blends autobiography with cosmic imagination. Reality constantly fractures and reforms. The novel resists conventional plot in favour of intellectual immersion. Daring, obsessive, and hypnotic, it is a monumental work of the imagination.

Set in early medieval Ireland, Haven follows three monks seeking spiritual purity on a remote island. Donoghue focuses on bodily hardship alongside faith and doubt. The landscape is stark, beautiful, and unforgiving. Small daily rituals carry spiritual weight. The novel quietly interrogates belief and endurance. Spare, atmospheric, and deeply humane.

This linked collection follows a Jamaican American family navigating migration, masculinity, and expectation. Escoffery blends humour with emotional precision, capturing moments of vulnerability and dislocation. Florida’s landscapes mirror inner turbulence. Each story builds on the last, deepening the family portrait. Identity is constantly negotiated. A sharp, compassionate exploration of belonging.

Barry’s novel follows a retired Irish police officer haunted by memory and loss. The narrative moves fluidly between past and present, blurring time and perception. Barry’s prose is lyrical and mournful. Trauma surfaces indirectly, through fragments and silences. The novel explores guilt, love, and spiritual reckoning. Quietly devastating and beautifully written.

Praiseworthy is an expansive, genre-defying novel set in northern Australia. Wright blends satire, myth, political critique, and epic storytelling. The book confronts colonialism, climate crisis, and capitalism with fierce imagination. Narrative voices multiply and collide. Reading it is immersive and demanding. A bold, uncompromising vision of Indigenous futurity.

Set over a few tense days on a 1920s luxury train, this novel follows a Black sleeping car porter juggling labour, dignity, and desire. Mayr blends humour with sharp social observation. Class and racial hierarchies are ever-present. The confined setting heightens emotional stakes. The prose is lively and precise. A vivid portrait of work, identity, and resistance.