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Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid have been shortlisted for the Dublin Lit Award, shared the former author on her Instagram page.

The Dublin Lit Award has honoured both writers' latest works, that is, Shamsie's Home Fire and Hamid's Exit West.

Home Fire is a rework of Greek myth Antigone that reimagines Sophocles's play in a contemporary setting. It has previously received several other literary honours, including the London Hellenic Prize 2017 and Women's Prize for Fiction 2018. It was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.

Exit West is a story about a refugee couple's attempted journey to safety. It won the Aspen Words Literary Prize 2018 in April last year. It was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017 and nominated for LA Times Book Prize. Fun fact: Obama listed the novel as one of his favourite reads of 2017!

Both novels were also shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

The Dublin Lit Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English. The Award is sponsored by Dublin City Council, the municipal government of Dublin, and administered by Dublin City Public Libraries. The Award aims to promote excellence in world literature. Nominations are submitted by library systems in major cities throughout the world.

The prize is €100,000 which is awarded to the author if the book is written in English. If the winning book is in English translation, the author receives €75,000 and the translator, €25,000. The winner also receives a trophy provided by Dublin City Council.

Shamsie and Hamid have been nominated alongside eight other authors from around the world, including France's Mathias Énard (for Compass), Northern Ireland's Bernard MacLaverty (for Midwinter Break), Ireland's Sally Rooney (for Conversations with Friends), USA's Emily Fridlund (for History of Wolves), Emily Ruskovich's Idaho and George Saunders (for Lincoln in the Bardo) and UK's Jon McGregor (for Reservoir 13 and Rachel Seiffert (for A Boy in Winter).