{"id":576358,"date":"2026-07-31T00:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/576358\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T00:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:39:07","slug":"its-a-bit-mad-dubliner-djamel-white-reacts-to-being-longlisted-for-booker-prize-2026-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/576358\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a bit mad\u2019: Dubliner Djamel White reacts to being longlisted for Booker Prize 2026 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit mad,\u201d says 28-year-old Irish writer and previous tattoo shop manager Djamel White when describing being longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize<\/a> for his debut novel, All Them Dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe news is still kind of incubating at the moment but, yeah, it\u2019s amazing. It feels amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

White is among 13 nominees <\/a>for the prestigious \u00a350,000 literary prize, including previous winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart. This year\u2019s shortlist will be announced at the Southbank Centre London on September 22nd, while the main event will take place on November 9th at\u202fa ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London. The Booker Prize winner will receive \u00a350,000, while shortlisted authors each receive \u00a32,500.<\/p>\n

White, the only Irish writer on this year\u2019s longlist as well as the youngest author, says he takes pride in the literary recognition. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is something I can safely say that I am proud of … I\u2019ll let myself be proud of [it].\u201d <\/p>\n

The five-person panel of judges includes classicist Mary Beard and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The judges described All Them Dogs as \u201ca mouthy, ballsy and bracingly unsentimental portrait of Dublin gangland, set well off the beaten track of the city\u2019s usual literary landmarks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty apt. It\u2019s set in the suburbs of Dublin, which isn\u2019t the most literary or romantic kind of place, so it wouldn\u2019t really show up in a lot of novels,\u201d White says of the judges\u2019 description. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0International Booker Prize fund doublesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Previous Irish winners include Paul Lynch, Anne Enright and Roddy Doyle, whom White met through creative writing non-profit Fighting Words, which Doyle founded with Se\u00e1n Love in 2009. <\/p>\n

Describing The Commitments author as \u201can idol of mine\u201d, White says: \u201cIt was always exciting when he was in the room, there was always a real energy about the place when we knew Roddy was coming in.\u201d <\/p>\n

White says the organisation was \u201cmonumental\u201d for his development as a writer and an individual. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt put me in the right direction in terms of finding a literary community. I was immediately introduced to people whom had similar interests, but were from completely different walks of life and whom were at different stages in their life and trying to figure things out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a space that allowed me to express myself and to develop my own tastes and interests in a place I felt included and supported. It equipped me with a lot of skills and experience for when I did eventually step out into the world and go to college and enter the workforce. So yeah, it was monumental for me in that regard.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a bit mad,\u201d says 28-year-old Irish writer and previous tattoo shop manager Djamel White when describing being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35247,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-576358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-booker-prize","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}