A British writer has scooped the largest prize in the world for a novel published in English.
Even the Dogs, by Jon McGregor, has been announced as the winner of the 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award and its 100,000 euro (£81,000) prize.
He beat off competition from 146 other titles nominated by 162 public libraries from 45 countries for the accolade.
Jon McGregor holds the trophy for the 2012 Dublin Literary Award
Margaret Hayes, Dublin city librarian, said: "Even the Dogs is a worthy winner from a truly international shortlist."
Mr McGregor was born in Bermuda and raised in England and is the author of two other critically acclaimed novels.
The top ten novels included authors from Australia (Jon Bauer), Brazil (Cristovao Tezza), the USA (Jennifer Egan, Karl Marlantes and Willy Vlautin), Canada (David Bergen), Israel (Yishai Sarid) and Britain (Tim Pears, Animatta Forna and McGregor).
Even the Dogs is described as a fearless experiment which details the lives of a gathering of homeless addicts as they go about their daily forage for shelter, drink or a fix.
It was nominated by Rudomino State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow, Russia.
Dublin Lord Mayor Andrew Montague, who announced the winner at in Dublin's Mansion House, said: "Even the Dogs is an intimate exploration of life at the edges of society - littered with love, loss, despair, ad a half-glimpse of redemption."
The award is organised by Dublin city libraries on behalf of Dublin City Council and is sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company.
McGregor is the third British author to win the prize. It was awarded to Andrew Miller in 1999 for Ingenious Pain and to Nicola Barker in 2000 for Wide Open.