Random House Author Emily Ruskovich Wins International Dublin Literary Award for IDAHO
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IDAHO by Emily Ruskovich (Random House) has won the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award, which “aims to promote excellence in world literature” by honoring a novel written in English or translated into English. The €100,000 (about $112,890) award represents one the world’s largest literary prizes. Sponsored by Dublin City Council and managed by Dublin City Libraries, the competition featured a total of 141 titles, nominated by libraries in 115 cities across 41 countries. Ruskovich is only the fourth American to win the award in its 24-year history.
The judges said, in part, “At the heart of Emily Ruskovich’s haunting debut novel is the inexplicable. A young couple, Jenny and Wade, move from the prairies to the utter loneliness and unexpected isolation of the Northern Idaho mountains where they carelessly bought a piece of wooded land on a steep mountainside. As yet, they know nothing about the winter that will entrap them: masses of snow, no plow, no neighbors, the next settlement eight miles away. This is not an idyll. Years go by. They build a house with their own hands; two children are born–May and June. Then, all of a sudden, in a brutal flash, with no warning, their happiness and their love are destroyed forever.
“Ruskovich’s masterful achievement is to narrate with consummate skill the complex series of events covering a time-span of more than 50 years. Empathy and love stand next to cruelty and crime. Individual guilt, trauma and pain are looming as large as eventual forgiveness and the ability to live in half-knowledge. Ultimately, IDAHO evolves into a masterpiece on the redeeming and regenerative potential of music, poetry, literature and art.”
Our warm congratulations to Ms. Ruskovich, her editor, Kate Medina, and everyone at Random House.