American writer Michael Thomas has won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, Man Gone Down.

The book, hailed as "powerful and moving" by the New York Times Book Review, follows an African-American man as he considers the course of his life, which has left him estranged from his family.

The IMPAC Dublin award, which comes with a 100,000-euro ($155,000 Cdn) cash prize, is one of the world's most lucrative literary awards. It is run by the Dublin public library.

A panel of judges, which this year includes Vancouver writer Timothy Taylor, considered 145 nominations by libraries around the work before selecting a short list of eight finalists.

Thomas, who was born in Boston and now teaches at Hunter College in Brooklyn, the setting for his book, was announced as winner Thursday in Dublin.

Irish writer James Ryan, one of the judges, called Man Gone Down "deeply moving in its human warmth." He hailed Thomas for his "enthralling voice and startling insight."

The book has won accolades throughout the U.S, including being among The New York Times Top Ten Best Books of 2007 and the San Francisco Chronicle Notable Books of 2007.

"Thomas seems to have fully embraced the "write what you know" ethos," Kaiama L. Glover wrote in the Times.

"And what he knows is how the odds are stacked in America. He knows the unlikelihood of successful black fatherhood. He knows that things are set up to keep the Other poor and the poor in their place. More than anything else, he knows how little but also — fortunately — how much it can take to bring a man down."

Other finalists for the award included:

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz.
• The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles, by Roy Jacobsen.
• Ravel, by Jean Echenoz.
• Animal's People, by Indra Sinha.
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid.
• The Archivist's Story, by Travis Holland.
• The Indian Clerk, by David Leavitt.