A shortlist has been unveiled for the £30,000 (about $42,325) International Dylan Thomas Prize, which is sponsored by Swansea University and recognizes the "best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under." The winner will be announced May 10. The shortlisted titles are:
Kumakanda by Kayo Chingonyi
Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
First Love by Gwendoline Riley
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
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Influx Press won the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses, which recognizes "independent publishers from the U.K. and Ireland that take the risk to publish brave and bold literary fiction," for its title Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley William, the Bookseller reported. Influx Press receives £5,000 (about $7,115), with £3,000 going to the publisher and £2,000 to the author.
Prize founder Neil Griffiths said Influx's achievement was "exactly what the Republic of Consciousness Prize was set up to reward. A small press that is so focused on what it wants to publish it can see unusually brilliant writing more clearly--especially when it comes to short stories. Eley Williams is that rare thing, a deeply serious writer working on a playful level. In the middle of her story 'Smote', I was floored. I realized I was reading a prose poet of a very high caliber indeed, and I said to myself: this book will win. The judges agreed."
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Barnes & Noble has chosen 22 titles for the Summer 2018 Discover Great New Writers program. The books--15 novels and seven works of nonfiction--are being published between April and August. Miwa Messer, director of the Discover Great New Writers program, said that the selections "wowed us and broke our hearts--sometimes in the same sentence. These are [books] that we can't stop thinking about, because the writing is just that sharp and snappy and good and the narrative voice just that unforgettable."