Boston-born writer Michael Thomas has won the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel Man Gone Down.The story is narrated by an unnamed young black father of three in an inter-racial marraige in Boston. We meet him on the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday, broke and living in the bedroom of a friend’s six-year-old child. He has four days to come up with the money necessary to keep his family together.
The judges said of the book that "tuned urgently to the way we live now, [it] is a novel brilliant in its scope and energy, and deeply moving in its human warmth."
The prize is the richest literary award in the world. Its nomination process is unique as nominations are made by selected libraries in capital and major cities throughout the world. For more information on the award and a list of the nominees visit http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/index.htm.
