EON

Canadian Writer Wins Coveted Ireland Authors Award

Dublin, Ireland- Despite heavy competition, the author of a novel called “De Niro’s Game,” who hails from Montreal Canada is the winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Rawi Hage defeated 136 other books to win the award with his tale about two children, friends who grow up and take vastly different paths as they survive both political, civil and racial strife amid paramilitary crime and war in the capital of Lebanon.

Mr. Hage is a 44-year-old author who fled Beirut in the 1990s and then came to New York to study photography at the NYC Institute of Photography.

He later settled in Montreal where he has been a successful and well-published essayist, photographer, and now, novelist.

The praise from the contest judges was lavish; they referred to the work of Mr. Hage as “Forthright, eloquent, and at times beautifully written first novel.”

The novel is very fast paced and shows how quickly a war and strife can envelop and dominate ordinary people and overtake lives.

Five judges from Spain, Ireland, The United States, and Britain examined books from over 45 countries, all written in English and published in 2006 before selecting first time novelist Hage’s book.

The books in the competition were nominated from libraries around the world.