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A big and hearty congratulations to David Bergen on making the shortlist for this year's IMPAC Dublin Award. This is a major world literature prize and a remarkable achievement for any author. Past winners include those who are whispered as future Nobel Prize Winners so Bergen has entered rarefied company indeed.

Bergen is the sole Canadian nominated for this year's award, which, at 100,000 euros, is the world's richest prize for an English-language work of fiction. The Winnipeg author was shortlisted for his novel The Matter with Morris, which was also a finalist for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

The last Canadian to win the prize was Rawi Hage in 2008 for De Niro's Game. Alistair MacLeod won in 2001 for No Great Mischief.

The complete list of nominees is as follows:

The Matter with Morris by David Bergen, HarperCollins Canada

Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer, Scribe Publications

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, Alfred A. Knopf

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna, Bloomsbury

Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor, Bloomsbury

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, Atlantic Monthly Press

Landed by Tim Pears, William Heinemann

Limassol by Yishai Sarid; translated from Hebrew by Barbara Harshav, Europa Editions

The Eternal Son by Cristovao Tezza; translated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin, Scribe

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin, Faber & Faber

Scott Griffin, founder of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry and David Young, trustee, announced the International and Canadian shortlist for this year's prize. Judges Heather McHugh (USA), David O'Meara (Canada) and Fiona Sampson (England) each read 481 books of poetry, from 37 countries, including 19 translations.

The seven finalists - four International and three Canadian - will be invited to read in Toronto at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto on Wednesday, June 6th. The seven finalists will each be awarded $10,000 for their participation in the Shortlist Readings.

The winners, announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Thursday, June 7th, will each be awarded $65,000.

International Shortlist

Night by David Harsent, Faber and Faber

The Chameleon Couch by Yusef Komunyakaa, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

November by Sean O'Brien, Picador

Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rozewicz by Joanna Trzeciak, translated from the Polish written by Tadeusz Rozewicz, W.W. Norton & Company

Canadian Shortlist

Methodist Hatchet by Ken Babstock, House of Anansi Press

Killdeer by Phil Hall, BookThug

Forge by Jan Zwicky, Gaspereau Press

The shortlist for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award was announced last night at a League of Canadian Poets' event in Toronto. The Lowther Award is presented annually to a book of poetry published by a Canadian woman, and will be juried this year by Katherine Bitney, Sarah Klassen, and Nela Rio.

The finalists are:

A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth by Stephanie Bolster, Brick Books

Small Mechanics by Lorna Crozier, McClelland & Stewart

Outskirts by Sue Goyette, Brick Books

Yes by Rosemary Griebel, Frontenac House

Groundwork by Amanda Jernigan, Biblioasis

Forge by Jan Zwicky Gaspereau Press

The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955 and voted upon by the members of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), are the most prestigious awards in the science fiction and fantasy fields.

This year's ballot includes many familiar faces. Pre-eminent among them must be George R.R. Martin. Martin has been nominated for the previous two volumes of his series A Song of Ice and Fire, and with the popularity of the HBO series based upon his work, this could be his year to win.

But it will be hard to discount China Miéville, who won the Hugo for his novel The City and the City in 2010 or Mira Grant, a nominee in 2011 for Feed. Both Miéville's Embassytown and Jo Walton's Among Others have previously been shortlisted for the SFWA's Nebula Award for best novel. Jo Walton is the sole Canadian on the novel shortlist. This is her first Hugo Award nomination.

Best Novel

• Among Others by Jo Walton
• A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
• Deadline by Mira Grant
• Embassytown by China Miéville
• Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

A complete list of nominees in all categories may be found here.