The longlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2024 was announced in Swansea, Wales on Thursday, January 25, 2024. Here are the writers of African descent on it.
Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer who became widely popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death at the age of 39. The International Dylan Thomas Prize aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide was set up by Swansea University in his honour. The £20,000 Prize is awarded annually to the best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under. Some of the previous winners include Fiona McFarlane, Patricia Lockwood, Kayo Chingonyi (2018), Raven Leilani, (2021), and Arinze Ifeakandu (2023).
The jury for 2024 is chaired by author and co-founder and co-director of the famed Jaipur Literature Festival, Namita Gokhale, alongside prize-winning Welsh author and lecturer in Creative Writing at Swansea University, Jon Gower, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2022 and Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Seán Hewitt, former BBC Gulf Correspondent and author of Telling Tales: An Oral History of Dubai, Julia Wheeler, and interdisciplinary artist and author of Keeping the House, longlisted for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize in 2022, Tice Cin.
The longlist was announced on Thursday with seven novels, three short story collections, and two poetry collections. The writers of African descent on the list are;
- A Spell of Good Things, Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Canongate Books, Nigeria
- Small Worlds, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Viking, Penguin Random House UK, UK/Ghana
- Hungry Ghosts, Kevin Jared Hosein, Bloomsbury Publishing UK/Ecco, HarperCollins US, Trinidad and Tobago
Both Ayòbámi Adébáyò and Caleb Azumah Nelson have been previously in the running with the former longlisted in 2018 for her debut Stay With Me and the latter shortlisted for 2022’s Open Water.
The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist will be announced on Thursday, March 21 followed by the Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on Thursday, May 16, following International Dylan Thomas Day on Tuesday, May 14.
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