The Judging Panel for the Year 2001

Amit Chaudhuri was born in Calcutta in 1962 and was raised for the most part in Bombay where he studied at the Elphinstone College. At 21 he went to London where he attended University College. This was followed by Balliol and Wolfson Colleges in Oxford. He was Creative Arts Fellow in the latter. His first novel, A Strange and Sublime Address (1991) won the Betty Trask Award and his second, Afternoon Raag won the 1993 Southern Arts Literature Prize and the Encore Award for best second novel. These have been followed by two further novels - Freedom Song (1998) and A New World (2000). Chaudhuri's work has appeared in various magazines including The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Granta and The New Yorker. Chaudhuri is also a musician, trained in Hindustani classical music. He has performed in Calcutta, Mumbai and New Delhi. He lives in Cambridge and Calcutta.

Fred D'Aguiar is a poet and novelist. Born in London of Guyanese parents, he lived in Guyana until he was 12, returning to London in 1972. He has written four poetry books including Bill of Rights, about the Jones Town Massacre which was shortlisted for the 1998 T.S. Elliot Prize and four novels, he latest, Feeding the Ghosts, was shortlisted for the James Tait Memorial Prize. He currently divides his time between London and Miami where he teaches Creative Writing and English Literature at the University of Miami. His other work includes Bloodlines, The Longest Memory and Dear Future

Novelist Buchi Emecheta was born near Lagos Nigeria in 1944. Orphaned at an early age, she spent her early childhood years being educated at a missionary school. She has lived in London since 1960. Emecheta's works deal with the portrayal of the African woman and the main characters of her novels show what is means to be a woman and mother in Nigerian society. Many of her books are semi-autobiographical. Emecheta's numerous works include The Joys of Motherhood and Head above Water.

Colum McCann is a novelist and short story writer. He was born in Dublin in 1965. he has lived in America, Japan, and Ireland and now divides his time between Dublin and New York City. He has emerged within the last few years as one of Ireland's most critically acclaimed young writers. In 1994 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for his short story collection Fishing the Sloe-Black River, and he is currently adapting his highly acclaimed first novel Songdogs for the screen. Songdogs was also nominated for the 1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and his second novel, This Side of Brightness was shortlisted for the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His second collection of short stories, Everything in This Country Must was recently published to critical acclaim.

Poet Medbh McGuicken was born in Belfast in 1950, where she now lives with her husband and four children. She graduated from Queens University in Belfast in English and later became the first woman poet to be named Writer in Residence. She has published ten collections of poetry, the most recent being Selected Poems in 1997 and Shelmalier in 1998. She has also won numerous Awards for her work including the Eric Grogory Award (1980) and the Rooney Prize (1982).

Born in 1937, American Allen Weinstein is an historian with a distinguished teaching career in the United States. He has received a number of awards in recognition of his work as an historian and his efforts on behalf of global democratic development, most significantly the United Nations Peace Medal. His books include (most recently) Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case (new edition 1998) and The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America- The Stalin Era (1999). His articles and reviews have appeared in a broad range of scholarly and popular publications. Since 1985, he has been President and CEO of the Center for Democracy (Washington, D.C.) and has served as non-voting chairman of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award since its inception in 1996.