MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
6 December 2000
New Zealand Writer long-listed for world’s richest literary prize
Kapka Kassabova has been long-listed for the prestigious 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for her first
novel Reconnaissance, the only New Zealander selected.
At 100,000 Irish pounds, the award remains the world’s richest literary prize for a single work of fiction in the
English language.
The long list of 98 titles was selected from nominations received from over one hundred municipal libraries of cities in
thirty-four countries world wide.
The New Zealand author sits alongside a venerable list of celebrated authors including Doris Lessing, Anita Desai,
Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth.
Reconnaissance, published by Penguin Books NZ won the 2000 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best first book in Asia and
the South Pacific. Bulgarian born Kassabova’s latest novel, Love in the Land of Midas was published to critical acclaim
in October 2000.
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