IRISH AUTHOR KEVIN Barry has made the longlist for the 2019 Booker Prize for his novel Night Boat to Tangier. 

Barry is the only Irish author to make the long list this for the prestigious literary award this year, which was picked up by Northern Irish writer Anna Burns last year for her novel Milkman. 

Barry (50) is originally from Limerick and currently lives in Sligo. He has won multiple awards for his works of fiction. 

Night Boat to Tangier – described by the judges as a “rogue gem of a novel” – is a work of crime fiction that tells the story of two old Irish gangsters who discuss their past as they search for a missing daughter, while waiting for a boat in Tangier. 

The Booker judges said the book was “a work of crime fiction not quite like any other”.

“The seedy underbelly of a Spanish port and a stony Irish town are the backdrop for a story of misdeeds, madness and loss that swells with poetry and pathos”.

Barry is joined by 12 other authors on the longlist, among them well-known figures like Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood. 

Atwood is longlisted for her book The Testaments, which is a sequel to the highly popular A Handmaid’s Tale. The novel is yet to be published. 

The 13 books will be whittled down to a shortlist of six on 3 September. The 2019 winner will by announced on 14 October. The winner of the award receives £50,000 (€55,790) prize money and will likely see sales of their book skyrocket.