IRISH WRITER SARA Baume has been nominated for the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize. 

The award is a leading international literary recognition for young writers and follows on from similar nods for the Cork-based author and visual artist. 

Baume’s novel Seven Steeples follows Bell and Sigh, a young couple who have relocate to the countryside with their dogs for a life of solitude. 

In an interview with The Journal in 2017, Baume said she has tended to favour a secluded life.

“The simple answer is that I’ve always been solitary,” she told this website at the time. “I think I’ve thought at times of my life that I’ve been lonely when I haven’t really.”

Baume, who is based in Skibbereen, previously won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Rooney Prize for Literature and the EM Forster Award. 

Seven Steeples, published by Dublin company Tramp Press, is her third novel.

The other works shortlisted are: the novels Limberlost by Robbie Arnott and I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel; short story collections God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu and Send Nudes by Saba Sams; and Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, a poetry collection by Warsan Shire.