Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist

Dylan Thomas Prize 2021: Longlist Announced

The longlist for one of the world’s largest literary prizes for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – has been announced.

Today, the international longlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2021 was announced. Featuring a record number of debut writers, the list comprises nine novels, two poetry collections and one short story collection.

Worth £20,000, the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes as well as one of the world’s largest literary prizes for young writers. Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language written by an author aged 39 or under, the prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

Below is the longlist of 12 works from writers across the world:

  • Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat (Picador) – short story collection
  • Antiemetic for Homesickness by Romalyn Ante (Chatto & Windus) – poetry collection
  • If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha (Viking, Penguin Random House UK) – novel
  • Kingdomtide by Rye Curtis (HarperCollins, 4th Estate) – novel
  • Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) – novel
  • The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi (Faber) – novel
  • Rendang by Will Harris (Granta) – poetry collection
  • The Wild Laughter by Caoilinn Hughes (Oneworld) – novel
  • Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze (HarperCollins, 4th Estate) – novel
  • Pew by Catherine Lacey (Granta) – novel
  • Luster by Raven Leilani (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Picador) – novel
  • My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell (HarperCollins, 4th Estate) – novel

The longlist will now be whittled down to a six-strong shortlist by this year’s Dylan Thomas Prize judging panel. The panel is chaired by award-winning writer, publisher and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Namita Gokhale, who will work alongside founder and director of the Bradford Literature Festival, Syima Aslam, poet Stephen Sexton, writer Joshua Ferris and novelist and academic Francesca Rhydderch.

The longlist announcement is followed by a special online event at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival in February 2021. The shortlist announcement will take place on the 25th of March, with the winner revealed on the 13th of May, the eve of International Dylan Thomas Day.

For more information on the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2021 longlist, click here.