First you find confidence, then you take the world

English may have been Rawi Hage's third language, but his global sensibilities won him the world's richest literary prize
by Tralee Pearce writing in the Globe and Mail

Last night he got a "big fat cheque" for €100,000 (about $160,000), a Waterford Crystal trophy and a standing ovation for his emotional acceptance speech.
And then, Canadian novelist Rawi Hage found himself shivering on the sidewalk outside the Dublin City Hall, trying to process winning the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, considered the world's most lucrative literary prize for a single work of English fiction.
"I'm a little bit drunk now," he said, using his publisher's cellphone. "I can't think too philosophically."
While he was referring to the free-flowing wine at the black-tie affair, Mr. Hage's trajectory from Montreal cab driver to toast of the literary world is truly intoxicating.

Read the full story at the Globe and Mail online.