Rawi Hage accepts the IMPAC trophy.Rawi Hage accepts the IMPAC trophy. (CBC)

Montreal writer Rawi Hage is the latest winner of the world's richest writing prize for his debut novel, De Niro's Game, organizers of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award announced on Thursday.

Hage, 44, received the $158,000 Cdn cash prize and a Waterford Crystal trophy at a ceremony in Dublin.

De Niro's Game, which follows characters caught in the civil war in Beirut in the 1980s, is "a magnificent achievement for a writer writing in a third language," the five-member international jury said in its citation.

"Its originality, its power, its lyricism, as well as its humane appeal all mark De Niro's Game as the work of a major literary talent and make Rawi Hage a truly deserving winner."

The Beirut-born writer, who lived through nine years of civil war in the Lebanese capital before his family emigrated to Canada, called himself "a fortunate man.

"After a long journey of war, displacement and separation, I feel that I am one of the few wanderers who is privileged enough to have been rewarded, and for that I am very grateful."

De Niro's Game beat out a short list that included:

  • Winterwood by Patrick McCabe.
  • The Attack by Yasmina Khadra.
  • Let It Be Morning by Sayed Kashua.
  • The Woman Who Waited by Andrei Makine.
  • The Sweet & Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne.
  • Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones.
  • The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas.

In 2006, De Niro's Game was nominated both for the Giller and Governor General's literary prizes. He went on to win two Quebec awards for the book: the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize.

Overall, organizers of the prestigious IMPAC prize received nominations for 137 books from libraries around the world (and led by the Dublin City Public Libraries). Hage's book was nominated by the Winnipeg Public Library.

Established in 1996 and worth 100,000 euros, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is the world's largest prize for a single work of fiction. Past winners include Colm Toibin, Orhan Pamuk, Alistair MacLeod, Nicola Barker and David Malouf.