Petterson Bags IMPAC

Norwegian author Per Petterson has now won his second major literary award for Out Stealing Horses. (You may remember that he also won the 2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Award.)

According to the Guardian, the judges called the novel:

... a poignant and moving tale of a changing perspective on the world ... and of nostalgia for a simpler way of life.

while the Irish poet and judge Gerald Dawe called it:

...a wonderfully subtle book. In the background, shadowing it with an almost ghostly narrative, there is the history of how war impacts on families in very different ways.

The IMPAC Dublin Prize is the world's richest award, and books are nominated by libraries across the world.

Postscript:

Local newspaper unclear on the concept. A headline in today's Malay Mail screams:

Norwegian Bags Booker prize

Duh!