The Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize 2019 longlist was announced today on January 31, 2019. On the list is Novuyo Rosa Tshuma for her novel House of Stone.
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 in New York City. In his honour the International Dylan Thomas Prize, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide was set up. The £30,000 Prize would be awarded to the best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.
Past winners of the award included Fiona McFarlane, Max Porter, Joshua Ferris, Claire Vaye Watkins, Maggie Shipstead, and Rachel Trezise. In 2018, the first African would win the prize with Zambia’s Kayo Chingonyi going home with the honours for his poetry collection Kumukanda.
The judging panel for the prize this year is chaired by Professor Dai Smith CBE, Emeritus Raymond Williams Research Chair in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University, and historian and writer on Welsh arts and culture. It also features poet, translator, and scholar, Professor Kurt Heinzelman; books editor of BBC Radio, Di Speirs and award-winning author and founding member of Leather Lane Writers and Oxford Narrative Group, Kit de Waal.
The longlist for 2019 has been announced today and those in the running are;
- Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, House of Stone (Atlantic Books).
- Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Friday Black (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US) and Riverrun (UK).
- Michael Donkor, Hold (4th Estate).
- Clare Fisher, How the Light Gets In (Influx Press).
- Zoe Gilbert, Folk (Bloomsbury Publishing).
- Emma Glass, Peach (Bloomsbury Publishing).
- Guy Gunaratne, In Our Mad and Furious City (Tinder Press, Headline).
- Louisa Hall, Trinity (Ecco).
- Sarah Perry, Melmoth (Serpent’s Tail).
- Sally Rooney, Normal People (Faber & Faber).
- Richard Scott, Soho (Faber & Faber).
- Jenny Xie, Eye Level (Graywolf Press).
The shortlist of six books will be revealed at the beginning of April. The winner will be announced on Thursday 16 May at Swansea University’s Great Hall, just after International Dylan Thomas Day on 14 May.
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