Solar Bones, partly told by a ghost on All Souls’ Day, was initially turned away by major publishers as too uncommercial
It’s not often that an author described on his own Wikipedia page as “disgracefully neglected” is awarded a €100,000 literary prize. But this is where the Irish author Mike McCormack finds himself, with Wednesday’s announcement that he has won the International Dublin literary award for his novel, Solar Bones. As someone who has hovered close to mainstream success without ever shaking off the slightly damning label of “writer’s writer”, he is unsurprisingly delighted.
“I don’t feel neglected today. I don’t know who put that Wiki page up, but I think whoever did will have to rethink that,” he laughs. “I was shocked. I had completely given up hope that I was going to win it. But I’m over the shock now and enjoying myself – very much.”
Related: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack review – an extraordinary hymn to small-town Ireland
To this day, my agent smiles and says, ‘No, I’m not going to tell you how many people turned the book down'
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