UK’s Jhalak Prize 2025 shortlist announced

The Jhalak Prize 2025 longlist was announced in London, UK, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Here are the writers of African descent in the running.

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 created by writers Sunny Singh and Nikesh Shukla in 2016. Some previous winners have been Jacob Ross, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Guy Gunaratne, Johny Pitts, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Patrice Lawrence, Travis Alabanza, and Yepoka Yeebo. In 2020, they expanded to celebrate writing for Children & Young Adults, and in 2025, poetry was added to the categories.

The 2025 longlists for prose, poetry, children, and young adult titles were announced on March 18 before the shortlists were announced on Tuesday. The writers of African descent who made the list are;

Prose

Jury: Sareeta Domingo, Taran N Khan, Yepoka Yeebo ​

• Manny and the Baby, Varaidzo (Scribe)
• My Friends, Hisham Matar (Penguin Viking)
• The Rest of You, Maame Blue (Verve)
• Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain, Aniefiok Ekpoudom (Faber)

Poetry

Jury: Jason Allen Paisant, Malika Booker, Will Harris

• Adam, Gboyega Odubanjo (Faber)
• Top Doll, Karen McCarthy Woolf (Dialogue Books)

Children and Young Adult

Jury: Yassim Abdel Magied, Hiba Noor Khan, Alom Shaha

• Flower Block, Lanisha Butterfield & Hoang Giang (Puffin)
• Mayowa and the Sea of Words, Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury)
• The Boy to Beat the Gods, Ashley Thorpe (Usborne)
• The Thread That Connects Us, Ayaan Mohamud (Usborne)

The winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 4, 2025