The shortlist has been selected for the £20,000 (about $26,600) Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, which "recognizes exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories, and drama." The British Library will host a shortlist celebratory event on May 13, with the winner named during a ceremony in Swansea on May 14 (International Dylan Thomas Day). This year's shortlisted titles are:
To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong (novel, U.K).
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (novel, U.K.)
Joy Is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney (poetry, U.S.)
Under the Blue by Suzannah V. Evans (poetry, U.K.)
Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (novel, U.K.)
Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu (novel, U.K.)
Chair of judges Irenosen Okojie MBE said: "This is a marvelous, galvanizing shortlist. We're thrilled by the scope, breadth and depth of these works across forms. These books have profound things to say about the ways we live, what it means to be human and overall are propulsive reads that imbue the writing space with new energies."
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Shortlists have been selected for the James Tait Black Prizes, honoring "the best work of fiction and biography" and judged by University of Edinburgh scholars and literature students. Each winner receives £10,000 (about $13,300). Winners will be announced in May.
The shortlist for the fiction prize:
Big Kiss, Bye Bye by Claire-Louise Bennett
Darryl by Jackie Ess
On the Greenwich Line by Shady Lewis, translated by Katharine Halls
Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag, translated by Srinath Perur
The Original by Nell Stevens
The shortlist for the biography prize:
The First and Last King of Haiti by Marlene Daut
Things that Disappear: Reflections and Memories by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Kurt Beals
The Cadence of a Song: The Life of Margaret Fay Shaw by Fiona Mackenzie
Oliver Twist & Me: The True Story of My Family and Charles Dickens's Best-Loved Novel by Nicholas Blincoe
Horace: Poet on a Volcano by Peter Stothard