The Dylan Thomas Prize: A Shortlist Celebration

On the eve of International Dylan Thomas Day, meet the six shortlisted authors for this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, the world’s largest literary award for young writers. They read from their acclaimed books and join award-winning Nigerian British author and Chair of the Judging Panel, Irenosen Okojie, MBE. in conversation. Previous winners have included Patricia Lockwood, Raven Leilani, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Max Porter.

The longlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2026 is: Harriet Armstrong, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies (Les Fugitives); Isabelle Baafi, Chaotic Good (Faber); Colwill Brown, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh (Chatto & Windus, Vintage); Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Joy Is My Middle Name (Fitzcarraldo Editions); Suzannah V. Evans, Under the Blue (Bloomsbury Poetry); Seán Hewitt, Open, Heaven (Jonathan Cape, Vintage); Kanza Javed, What Remains After a Fire (W.W. Norton & Company); Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, The Tiny Things Are Heavier (Manilla Press, Bonnier Books); Derek Owusu, Borderline Fiction (Canongate); Issa Quincy, Absence (Granta); Saba Sams, Gunk (Bloomsbury Circus); Vanessa Santos, Make a Home of Me (Dead Ink Books).

The 2026 shortlist will be announced on Thursday 19 March.

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