zoe gilbert

IDT Prize Podcast: Zoe Gilbert

Over the next few weeks, the International Dylan Thomas Prize and Swansea University will be publishing a series of podcast interviews with the shortlisted authors of this year’s prize. Episode two is with shortlisted Zoe Gilbert. Wales Arts Review is very pleased to be co-publishing these podcasts in the run up to the announcement of the winner on May 16th.

The shortlisted candidate for the Intl. Dylan Thomas Prize in Partnership with Swansea University is interviewed by English Literature Undergraduate students John Baddeley, Molly Holborn and Hannah Trim. These students have studied Gilbert’s shortlisted collection, Folk as part of Swansea University’s exciting new module based on the literary prize.

Zoe Gilbert is the winner of the Costa Short Story Award 2014. Her work has appeared on BBC Radio 4, and in anthologies and journals in the UK and internationally. She has taken part in writing projects in China and South Korea for the British Council, and she is completing a PhD on folk tales in contemporary fiction. The co-founder of London Lit Lab, which provides writing courses and mentoring for writers, she lives on the coast in Kent.

Launched in 2006, the annual Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide. It celebrates and nurtures international literary excellence.

The £30,000 Prize is awarded to the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.

Dylan Thomas, the quintessential adolescent writer, was ideally suited to serve as an inspiration to young writers everywhere. The freshness and immediacy of his writing were qualities that he never lost. The Prize seeks to ensure that readers today will have the chance to savour the vitality and sparkle of a new generation of young writers.