Dublin Literary Award: The Adversary by Canadian author Michael Crummey wins €100,000 prize

The Adversary, a story of sibling rivalry set in 19th-century Newfoundland, by Canadian author Michael Crummey, has won the 30th annual Dublin Literary Award, worth €100,000.

The award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English. Uniquely, it receives its nominations from public libraries around the world.

Emma Blain, Lord Mayor of Dublin and patron of the award, announced the winner at the International Literature Festival Dublin in Merrion Square Park. Richard Shakespeare, chief executive of Dublin City Council, presented the prize to the winning author.

“The Adversary, set in Newfoundland, is an impressive historical novel bringing the reader into a dark, unsettling story about sibling rivalry, power and human resilience,” Ms Blain said. “I’d like to congratulate Michael Crummey and thank everyone involved in the award – writers, translators, librarians, publishers and the administrative staff of Dublin City Council.”

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Mr Shakespeare said: “I am delighted for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award winner. Michael Crummey’s win is all the more significant in this anniversary year considering the Irish links to Newfoundland. The award celebrating 30 years is a source of pride for us in our Unesco City of Literature. It has supported writers, translators and readers over the years, and brings the world closer through the power of imaginative storytelling.”

The winning novel, nominated by Newfoundland and Labrador libraries in Canada, was chosen from a shortlist of six novels by writers from Argentina, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United States, including Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. The longlist of 71 titles was nominated by 83 libraries from 34 countries.

[ Prophet Song by Paul Lynch review: Totalitarian twists and turnsOpens in new window ]

“I am absolutely overjoyed to have received this news,” Crummey said. “It was an honour to be included on the shortlist with so many exceptional writers. To have won the Dublin Literary Award leaves me thrilled and deeply, deeply grateful. It’s something I will carry with me always.”

The winner will appear at the International Literature Festival Dublin, for an in-depth conversation about the novel, with Madeleine Keane, tomorrow at 6pm in Merrion Square Park. Book here to attend in person. Copies of the winning title are available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and from public libraries throughout Ireland.

Prof Chris Morash of Trinity College Dublin chaired the judging panel made up of Leonard Cassuto, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Gerbrand Bakker, Martina Devlin and Fiona Sze Lorrain.

“Michael Crummey’s The Adversary compellingly and convincingly immerses its readers in a world previously lost to fiction, and almost lost to memory: a Newfoundland outport from the early years of the colony, connected to the world outside only by the occasional supply ship,” the judges said.

“In this vividly imagined, insular world, the narrative is driven by the animosity between two characters – a brother and sister – whose epic hatred for one another gives the novel an almost parable-like quality. Their enmity powers this subtle, darkly powerful tale narrated in poetic language. The Adversary lastingly fills in a hitherto blank corner on our map of imagined past places.”

Crummey lives in St John’s, Newfoundland. He is the author of the novels The Wreckage, Galore, Sweetland and The Innocents, as well as seven books of poetry and a collection of short stories.

Last year’s award winner was Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu. The most recent Irish winner was Anna Burns in 2020 for Milkman.