Ali Smith won the 2026 Dublin Literary Award, given annually to “a single work of fiction in original English or translated into English,” for her novel Gliff.
Gliff, published in the United States by Pantheon last year, follows two young siblings who are left to fend for themselves after their mother leaves and who are taken in by a group of squatters. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the novel “a dark vision brightened by the engaging craft of an inventive writer.”
A companion book, Glyph, was released in the U.S. this week.
Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam made the prize announcement at a ceremony during the International Literature Festival Dublin. McAdam said, “Gliff is a remarkable and deeply powerful work from author Ali Smith.…At a moment when democracy across the world can too often feel fragile, this novel is a powerful reminder that freedom, dignity, and democratic values should never be taken for granted.”
Smith said, “I couldn’t be more amazed and delighted that my novel has come to the surface and won the Dublin Literary Award. This is an award prized among writers, who know that the Dublin Literary Award’s formation, its ear and eye for what matters most, and its profoundly literary legacy, all make it the best—an award that dares always to be international and that knows the importance of translation—the beating heart of all writing.”
Nominations for the Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by the Dublin City Council, come from public libraries from around the world, and a panel of judges determines the longlist, shortlist, and winner.
The award, which comes with a cash prize of 100,000 euros, about $116,000, was established in 1996. Previous winners include Edward P. Jones for The Known World, Colum McCann for Let the Great World Spin, and Valeria Luiselli for Lost Children Archive.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
