Mary Jean Chan, Caleb Asma-Nelson and AK Blakemore are among the finalists for this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.
The prize, worth £20,000, celebrates poetry, novels, short stories and plays by writers under the age of 39, in honor of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who died aged 39.
Aibami Adebaye, Katherine Lacey and Joshua Jones were also on the shortlist. Jones was the only debut author to be selected for Local Fires, a collection of short stories inspired by real events and people in his hometown of Llanelli in south Wales. Jury chair and author Namita Gokhale said the collection “evokes the inertia, stagnation and vanished innocence of the post-industrial landscape.”
The only poet shortlisted, Chan was selected for Bright Fear, a collection that explores identity, multilingualism, and postcolonial legacies. “Written with quiet intimacy, Mary Jean Chan’s second collection of poems is gentle, charming, and formally original,” said judge and author Tais Singh. Stated.
Adebaye was shortlisted for The Spell of Goodness, a novel in which “domestic conflict and contemporary Nigerian political tensions collide with each other,” writes Michael Donkor in a review of the novel for the Guardian.
The six finalists were chosen from a longlist of 12, including Eliza Clarke’s Penance, Camila Grudova’s The Coiled Serpent, Kevin Jared Hossein’s The Hungry Ghost, Also included were Michael Magee’s “Close to Home,” Thomas Morris’ “Open Up,” and “Divisible By.” itself and One by Kae Tempest.
Nelson was shortlisted for Small Worlds, a novel set over three summers in London and Ghana, which Singh described as “deeply endearing and rhythmically moving.”
Singh and Gokhale will be joined on the judging panel by writers John Gower, Sean Hewitt and Julia Wheeler. The winner of the award will be announced at a ceremony in Thomas’ hometown of Swansea on Thursday, May 16th.
Blakemore was shortlisted for The Glutton, a historical novel inspired by the story of Tarrare, a French peasant who survived the French Revolution. Tarale’s insatiable hunger made him the star of the show. Sandra Newman wrote in her review for the Guardian: “This is a story that clearly begs to be fictionalized, and it’s hard to think of a better writer than Blakemore to write it.”
Completing the shortlist was Lacey’s Biography of X, which chronicles the life and secrets of the enigmatic artist. “There are many impressive things about this book,” wrote Marcel Serraud in a review for the Guardian. “It makes me think anew about America and American history. It wanders through the muddy chasms of identity politics, saying something non-partisan and original. At the center of it is X, a charismatic man who takes aim at all orthodoxies. He’s a fascinating person.”
Lacey, Chan and Nelson were previously named finalists for the award, and Adebaye was previously named as a nominee. Previous recipients include Max Porter, Brian Washington, and Patricia Lockwood. In 2023, Arinze Ifikandu won her award for her debut short story collection, God’s Children Are a Little Broken.
