Bullaun Press Becomes First Irish Publisher Longlisted for International Booker Prize
FIRST IRISH PUBLISHER LONGLISTED FOR INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem published by Bullaun Press, Sligo, is longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
Independent Irish publisher Bullaun Press is thrilled to announce that There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem from Réunion, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert, is one of only 13 titles longlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize.
This was Bélem’s first novel, which came out with Éditions Gallimard in France in 2020. Bullaun Press was established in 2021, the first Irish press dedicated exclusively to literature in translation into English, with a mission of seeking out new voices of contemporary relevance. There’s a Monster Behind the Door was their fourth book, released October 2024.
It is the first time an Irish publisher has had a book longlisted for the International Booker Prize. In 2018 the Booker Prize Foundation revised their eligibility criteria to allow Irish publishers, alongside UK publishers, to submit their titles for the Booker Prize. The same rules then pertained to the International Booker Prize. Publishing Ireland had lobbied for that change on the grounds that it would ‘give an unprecedented platform to Irish publishers large and small … and be of lasting benefit … to writers and readers around the world and to the canon of literature itself.’
Bridget Farrell, Executive editor of Sligo-based Bullaun Press, says: ‘There’s a Monster Behind the Door is a very special book from a remarkable author. All credit is due to the translators for championing this novel and bringing it to our attention. None of this would have been possible without the Arts Council, which has supported us in commissioning and publishing international titles since 2022. We are a very small collaborative enterprise. Every part of the process of bringing this book into the hands of an English-language readership has been rewarding. Huge thanks are also due to Literature Ireland, the Centre National du Livre, and the Institut français for funding as well as to the reviewers and booksellers who got behind the title. The Embassy of France in Ireland supported Bélem’s visit to Ireland for the launch last October in Books Upstairs, Dublin. We all join in offering her our heartfelt congratulations on this memorable occasion.’
Gaëlle Bélem says: ‘I thought the jury had made a mistake and mixed up the lists of those authors rejected and those selected. Afterwards, there was silence, amazement, thrill, in other words boundless happiness, tears of joy, my heart adance … I thank each member of the jury for opening this door, reading my little monster. I’m amazed at the trust they have put in me. I will always love them, I will never forget this moment.’
In 2022 the translators approached Bullaun Press, a new publishing house, with a proposal to translate the book. At that time Saint-Loubert was completing an Irish Research Council postdoc at UCD. Founding editor Bridget Farrell was impressed with the book and the sample translation. Bullaun Press bought Irish/UK rights to the title and commissioned the full translation. In 2023 Gallimard offered Bullaun Press first refusal on Irish/UK rights to Bélem’s second novel, Le fruit le plus rare, which they also took on. It is forthcoming in translation by Fleetwood and Saint-Loubert this May 2025 as The Rarest Fruit.
