📖 Book Award ~ The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist 2024

 

THE SWANSEA UNIVERSITY DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE REVEALS INTERNATIONAL LONGLIST FOR 2024

Worth £20,000, this global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The prize invokes the memory of Dylan Thomas to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence.

The full longlist for 2024 is :


- A Spell of Good Things by Ayòbámi Adébáyò (Canongate Books) – novel (Nigeria)

- Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking, Penguin Random House UK) – novel (UK/Ghana)

- The Glutton by A. K. Blakemore (Granta) – novel (England, UK)

- Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan (Faber & Faber) – poetry collection (Hong Kong)

- Penance by Eliza Clark (Faber & Faber) – novel (England, UK)

- The Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova (Atlantic Books) – short story collection (Canada)

- Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein (Bloomsbury Publishing UK/Ecco, HarperCollins US) – novel (Trinidad and Tobago)

- Local Fires by Joshua Jones (Parthian Books) – short story collection (Wales, UK)

- Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (Granta) – novel (US)

- Close to Home by Michael Magee (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK) – novel (Northern Ireland, UK)

- Open Up by Thomas Morris (Faber & Faber) – short story collection (Wales, UK)

- Divisible by Itself and One by Kae Tempest (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – poetry collection (England, UK)

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Key Dates for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2024

Shortlist Announcement: 21 March 2024

Winner Announcement and award ceremony, Swansea: 16 May 2024

Launched in 2006, the annual Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide. It celebrates and nurtures international literary excellence. Worth £20,000, it is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes as well as one of the world’s largest literary prizes for young writers. Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer, Dylan Thomas, and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. One of the most influential, internationally renowned writers of the mid-twentieth century, the prize invokes his memory to support the writers of today and nurture the talents of tomorrow.

Last year's prize was awarded to Arinze Ifeakandu for his debut short story collection God's Children Are Little Broken Things (Orion, Weidenfeld & Nicolson). Chair of the 2023 Judges, Di Speirs, said: ‘We were unanimous in our praise and admiration for this exhilarating collection of nine stories. Arinze Ifeakandu’s debut shines with maturity, the writing bold, refreshing and exacting but never afraid to linger and to allow characters and situations to develop and change, so that the longer stories are almost novels in themselves. A kaleidoscopic reflection of queer life and love in Nigeria, the constraints, the dangers and the humanity, this is a collection that we wanted to press into many readers’ hands around the world and which left us excited to know what Arinze Ifeakandu will write next.’

Previous winners also include Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Guy Gunaratne, and Kayo Chingonyi.

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist will be announced on Thursday 21 March followed by the Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on Thursday 16 May, following International Dylan Thomas Day on Tuesday 14 May.