Four debuts have been shortlisted for the £20,000 Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize.
The award is for writers aged 39 or under, and is open to all forms of literature. This year’s shortlist of six comprises three novels, two short story collections and one book of poetry.
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott (Atlantic)
Seven Steeples by Sara Baume (Tramp Press)
God's Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu (Orion)
I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel (Rough Trade)
Send Nudes by Saba Sams (Bloomsbury)
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire (Chatto & Windus)
Di Speirs, chair of the judges and books editor at BBC Audio, said the list exemplified “not only the talent and excitingly fresh, often startling, writing we were seeking, but draw the reader in and on”.
“There’s wit and wisdom, pleasure and pain, acute observation of the natural world and of human relationships and above all, so much to savour,” she continued. “That we all agreed so clearly on our shortlist is testament to the strength of this potent mix of poetry, short stories and novels and to the power of the six writers.”
Joining Speirs on the judging panel are prize-winning Welsh author and lecturer in English at Swansea University, Jon Gower; 2012 winner of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize Maggie Shipstead; poet and the founder of Octavia Poetry Collective for Women of Colour, Rachel Long; and Nepali-Indian author and 2013 prize shortlistee Prajwal Parajuly.
Three British writers are shortlisted for the prize: Warsan Shire, Sheena Patel and Saba Sams.
Shire makes the list for her debut poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised By a Voice in Her Head, which Mary Jean Chan described in the Guardian as “vital, moving and courageous”. Although Somali British writer Shire only released her first collection in 2022, she had previously featured on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King. Shipstead said Bless the Daughter Raised By a Voice in Her Head “is the kind of poetry collection that takes up residence in your psyche and becomes a part of you, echoing when you least expect it”.
Patel is shortlisted for I’m a Fan, her debut novel which was recently longlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction and the Jhalak prize. Describing it as a critique of social media and heteronormative relationships, Lamorna Ash in the Guardian called it a “corrosive, brilliant debut”. Speirs said the judges “loved Patel’s book for its immediacy, vibrancy and shafts of spiky humour”.
Sams is the youngest author on this year’s shortlist, at 26, and is shortlisted for her short story collection Send Nudes, which highlights the confusing double standards facing women today. Madeleine Feeny in her Guardian review said Sams presented “acute portraits of the fragile intimacies and euphoric moments snatched by a generation of women coming of age into a precarious future”. Long described Send Nudes as an “exciting, empowering collection of short stories, full of knowing, daring, wit and range”.
The list is completed by three international writers: Ireland’s Sara Baume, Australia’s Robbie Arnott, and Nigeria’s Arinze Ifeakandu.
Baume is nominated for her poetic third novel Seven Steeples, which depicts a couple escaping into the wilds of south-west Ireland. Barney Norris in the Guardian called it a “glacially beautiful book”. Gower said Baume had “created a marvellously shambolic and memorable pair of characters” and described the book as “tender and true”.
Arnott is shortlisted for his third novel Limberlost, which transports readers to the Tasmanian wilderness with its story of the life of one man. Melissa Harrison in the Guardian said: “Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent.” Parajuly said the prize judges loved the book “for its stunning sentences, its quiet meditation on masculinity, and its ability to conjure up (as well as transport us to) 1940s Tasmania”.
Ifeakandu is shortlisted for his short story collection, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, which explores what it means to be a queer male in his home country. Colm Tóibín, in an interview in the Observer, said it was a “tremendous book”. Shipstead said God’s Children Are Little Broken Things brought “incisive authorial insight and compassionate, compelling humanity to the lives of its characters”.
The winner of the prize will be announced on 11 May, prior to International Dylan Thomas day on 14 May. Last year’s winner was American novelist, poet and essayist Patricia Lockwood for her debut novel No One Is Talking About This.
