Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones (Vintage) is one of eight titles on the shortlist for the €100,000 (A$160,000) IMPAC award, the world's richest single prize for a work of fiction.

Nominations from 161 public libraries in 121 cities around the world were first whittled into a longlist of 137 titles, before a judging panel selected the shortlist.

Commenting on the award, Deirdre Ellis King, of Dublin City Library, responsible for collating the worldwide library nominations, said: 'The themes of the 2008 shortlisted titles are international and include war, love, terrorism, politics, religion, family and murder. Nominated by public libraries in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and the USA, they prove that such a high standard of literature can be read and appreciated by anyone.'

The panel of six judges responsible for drawing up the shortlist is drawn from six different countries. The voting members are Helon Habila (Nigeria), Patricia Duncker (UK, Jamaica), Aamer Hussein (Pakistan), and Eibhlín Evans (Eire). The panel is chaired by the former chief judge of the US Court of Appeals, Eugene R Sullivan, who has a non-voting role.

The winner of this year's prize will be announced on June 12.

The shortlist in full
The Speed of Light (Javier Cercas, Bloomsbury) 
The Sweet and Simple Kind (Yasmine Gooneratne, Perera/Hussein)
De Niro's Game (Rawi Hage, Picador)
Dreams of Speaking (Gail Jones, Vintage)
Let it be Morning (Sayed Kashua, Atlantic Books)
The Attack (Yasmina Khadra, Random)
The Woman who Waited (Andrei Makine, Hodder)
Winterwood (Patrick McCabe, Bloomsbury)

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: gail jones, impac