A longlist has been released for the 2018 Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Color, spanning fiction, YA, nonfiction, debuts, poetry and short stories. The shortlist will be announced February 20, with a winner named March 15. This year's all-woman judging panel includes the prize co-founder and panel chair Sunny Singh, Catherine Johnson, Tanya Byrne, Vera Chok and Noo Saro-Wiwa.
"The last few months have been an incredible journey through beautifully crafted, intellectually challenging and emotionally rich books," said Singh. "The longlist demonstrates the extraordinary range of themes, ideas and forms from British writers of color."
The Jhalak Prize longlisted titles are:
Come All You Little Persons by John Agard
The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam
Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials and the Meaning of Grime by Jeffrey Boakye
Worry Angels by Sita Brahmachari
Kumakanda by Kayo Chongonyi
Bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Once Upon a Time in the East by Xialou Guo
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy
The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Come Let Us Sing Anyway by Leone Ross
We That Are Young by Preti Taneja