Travis Alabanza’s book None of the Above won in its category at the Jhalak Prize 2023 in an announcement made on Thursday, May 25, 2023.
The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) writers was created by writers Sunny Singh and Nikesh Shukla as well as Media Diversified in 2016. Previous winners have been Jacob Ross, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Guy Gunaratne, Johny Pitts, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and Patrice Lawrence.
For 2023, the judging panel in the adult fiction section comprises novelist and short story writer Haleh Agar, writer of poetry and non-fiction Anthony Vahni Capildeo as well as author and journalist Monisha Rajesh. The Children’s and YA jury comprises award-winning documentary filmmaker and writer Yaba Badoe, children’s author Maisie Chan, award-winning author of novels, and shorts stories, poetry, and plays Irfan Master.
The longlists for this year were announced on March 15 before the shortlist was revealed on April 18. The winners were revealed with the following writers of African descent winning in their category;
Adult
- None of the Above, Travis Alabanza (Canongate)
Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer, and theatre maker. Their theatre shows Burgerz, Overflow, and Sound of The Underground were all received with critical acclaim, winning Total Theatre Award at Edinburgh Fringe, streaming to over 22 countries, and being included in over 20 syllabuses. They have given talks on race and gender across the world including at Harvard, Oxford, and Bristol – with their impact on the LGBT+ community being noted in the Forbes 30 under 30 list, Dazed 100, and a recent Attitude magazine 100 list.
Travis Alabanza responded to the win with the Tweet, “Ahhhh None of the Above has won the @jhalakprize. So wish I could be there in person, but what an honour. Thank you! And big up team @canongatebooks,- it takes a village to make a book. ❤️❤️🔥”
She went on to say, “😭. Thank you to the @jhalakprize and judges for this opportunity, and for really seeing my goals and intentions re: the book.”
The winning book has the following blurb,
‘When you are someone that falls outside of categories in so many ways, a lot of things are said to you. And I have had a lot of things said to me.’
In None of the Above, Travis Alabanza examines seven phrases people have directed at them about their gender identity. These phrases have stayed with them over the years. Some are deceptively innocuous, some deliberately loaded or offensive, some celebratory; sentences that have impacted them for better and for worse; sentences that speak to the broader issues raised by a world that insists that gender must be a binary.
Through these seven phrases, which include some of their most transformative experiences as a Black, mixed race, non binary person, Travis Alabanza turns a mirror back on society, giving us reason to question the very framework in which we live and the ways we treat each other.
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