Awards: New England Book; International Dublin Literary

Finalists have been announced for the 2018 New England Book Awards, sponsored by the New England Independent Booksellers Association and honoring a title about New England, set in New England or by an author residing in New England. NEIBA bookstore members will now vote to choose the four award winners, who will be honored September 26 at the annual Awards Banquet during NEIBA's Fall Conference in Providence, R.I. This year's finalists are:

Fiction
Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir (Knopf)
Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur (Ecco)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin)
Points North by Howard Frank Mosher (St Martin's)
Radio Free Vermont by Bill McKibben (Blue Rider Press)

Nonfiction
Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin (Knopf)
Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar (Atria)
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine by Alan Lightman (Pantheon)
Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom by Christopher Wren (S&S)
Vacationland by John Hodgman (Penguin)

Children's
A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
A Stone for Sascha, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker (Candlewick)
Rescue and Jessica by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, illustrated by Scott Magoon (Candlewick)
Salamander Sky by Katy Farber, illustrated by Meg Sodano (Green Writers Press)
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie O'Connor (Katherine Tegen Books)

Young adult
Cruel Prince by Holly Black (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick)
Mary's Monster by Lita Judge (Roaring Brook Press)
Shadow Weaver by MarcyKate Connolly (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky)
Trell by Dick Lehr (Candlewick)

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Irish author Mike McCormack won the €100,000 (about $117,895) International Dublin Literary Award, which is organized and sponsored by Dublin City Council for a single novel published in English, for Solar Bones.

The 2018 shortlist included six novels in translation and authors and translators from the U.S., Germany/Ukraine, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Africa/Nigeria/Barbados, South Korea and the U.K. The winner was chosen from a total of 150 titles, nominated by libraries in 111 cities across 37 countries

The judging panel commented: "Formally ambitious, stylistically dauntless and linguistically spirited, Solar Bones is a novel of extraordinary assurance and scope. That its protagonist, Marcus Conway, is dead we know from the back cover blurb: the novel's task is, through the miracle of language, to bring him back to life. And so it does, bringing him back to his life, a life experienced as both ordinary (in its daily routines) and extraordinary (in its probing of what it means to be alive).... The novel's seamless structure gives it a beautifully fluid pace. An extremely enjoyable read, it is also poignant, moving and evocative."

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