Ken Bruen receives iBAM! Award for Literature

Irish novelist Ken Bruen has been declared as this year’s iBAM! Awardee for Literature. Ken will receive his prize during a gala dinner to be held on October 14—the opening day of the 2016 iBAM! (Irish Books, Arts, and Music) celebration—in the Erin Room at Chicago’s Irish American Heritage Center.

In response to news of his win, Bruen told the Galway Advertiser, “I’m truly delighted and stunned. I’m over the moon.”

The iBAM Chicago Web site explains that “Ken has written over 50 books and is one of the most prominent Irish crime writers of the last two decades. Born in Galway in 1951, he spent 25 years traveling the world before he began writing in the mid-1990s. As an English teacher, Bruen worked in South Africa, Japan, and South America, where he once spent a short time in a Brazilian jail. He has two long-running series: one starring a disgraced former policeman named Jack Taylor, the other a London police detective named Inspector Brant.” 

Ken has written over 50 books and is one of the most prominent Irish crime writers of the last two decades. Born in Galway in 1951, he spent twenty-five years traveling the world before he began writing in the mid 1990s. As an English teacher, Bruen worked in South Africa, Japan, and South America, where he once spent a short time in a Brazilian jail.

He has two long-running series: one starring a disgraced former policeman named Jack Taylor, the other a London police detective named Inspector Brant. Praised for their sharp insight into the darker side of today’s prosperous Ireland, Bruen’s novels are marked by grim atmosphere and clipped prose. Among the best known are his White Trilogy (1998-2000) and The Guards (2001), the Shamus award-winning first novel in the Jack Taylor series. The next Jack Taylor novel, Green Hell, will be released by Mysterious Press/Grove Atlantic in July 2015. Bruen continues to live and work in Galway.

HT: The Rap Sheet and Mysterious Press