Irish author Colum McCann. photo taken Oct. 23, 2000. photo by Louie Palu.Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail
Irish-born, New York-based novelist Colum McCann beat Canada's Michael Crummey and nine other international novelists, including Barbara Kingsolver and David Malouf, to take the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, worth $139,000.
The prize is awarded every year based on nominations from public libraries around the world. McCann won for Let the Great World Spin, his sixth novel, described by judges as "a hurricane of a book," besting Crummey's Galore. The judges included Alberta-born Nancy Huston.
Past Canadian winners of the IMPAC award include Rawi Hage and Alastair MacLeod.