Irish poet, playwright, and novelist Sebastian Barry -- a former resident in the International Writing Program -- was recently shortlisted, among five other writers, for the 2008 Man Booker Prize in Fiction. Barry was selected for his novel The Secret Scripture, which has been described as "exquisitely written, it is the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope." The Man Booker Prize is the top literary prize in the English speaking world outside of the United States. Read the official announcement on the Man Booker Prize website.

Read >> Excerpt from The Secret Scripture

A 1987 participant in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program, Sebastian Barry plays include Boss Grady’s Boys (1988), The Steward of Christendom (1995), Our Lady of Sligo (1998) and The Pride of Parnell Street (2007). His novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), Annie Dunne (2002) and A Long Long Way (2005). He has won, among other awards, the Irish-America Fund Literary Award, the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Prize, the London Critics Circle Award and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize.