WOMEN DOMINATE DYLAN PRIZE SHORTLIST
FOUR debut authors make up the female-heavy shortlist for the 2018 Dylan Thomas Prize. The Swansea-based award is worth £30,000 and celebrates the brightest young writers in the English language from across the world.
2017 sparked this century’s biggest gender equality movement, and this year’s female-led international shortlist brings to the fore crucial themes of sexual violence, toxic relationships, masculinity and racial divisions, that are relevant across the world.
This is the 10th edition of the Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize and it commemorates 65 years since the death of Wales’ most lauded writer Dylan Thomas. The winner will be announced during a ceremony in Swansea on May 10.
The prize, for writers aged 39 and under, celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms, including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.
Last year’s winner was Australian writer Fiona McFarlane for her highly-acclaimed collection of short stores, The High Places. The first ever winner was Welsh writer Rachel Trezise, who recently saw her debut novel, In And Out Of The Goldfish Bowl, republished as part of the Library of Wales series.
Chairman of the judges, Professor Dai Smith, said: “The shortlist of the 2018 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize is an amazing showcase of young writing talent from across the globe. There are two startling and searing novels from contemporary America; two other novels which engage in a forensic examination of love and loathing, from England and Ireland; an inventively original collection of short stories from the USA and a challenging, poised work of poetry which takes us to the core of a divided Britain. The judges will have a difficult job over the next two months to find a winner from what is already a list of winners.” This year’s shortlisted author’s are: Zambian-born poet Kayo Chingonyi (31) for his debut collection of poetry Kumakanda, which explores the rites of passage boys go through to become men, the intersection of masculinity and race and what it means to be British and not British, all at once.
Cuban-American short-story writer Carmen Maria Machado’s (31) debut short story collection Her Body & Other Parties explores the eroticism, violence and emotion of the female experience through a potent mix of science fiction, ghost stories and fairytales.
Six-time British novelist Gwendoline Riley (39) has been shortlisted for First Love, a compelling tale of toxic love and poisonous partnerships which has been shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Goldsmiths Prize.
Irish debut novelist and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Sally Rooney (27) has been called the “Salinger for the Snapchat generation” and her runaway success Conversations with Friends.
Debut American novelist Emily Ruskovich (31) is shortlisted for her thriller hit Idaho, which tells the story of a mother suddenly killing her six-year-old daughter.
American thriller author Gabriel Tallent (30) has been shortlisted for his debut novel My Absolute Darling, called “the year’s must-read novel” by The Times and ‘a masterpiece’ by Stephen King.
The shortlisted authors will also participate in the DylanED programme, an initiative set up by Swansea University in conjunction with the prize to engage young people with international literature and Wales’ rich cultural history.
The shortlist is directly involved in the programme that runs all year round, and authors have previously done workshops with local college students, given readings and talks at local schools, and given masterclasses at the University.
Since 2016 Welsh students are invited to review books from the shortlist for the DylanED Book Review Competition and will present their winning reviews at a special winner’s ceremony in front of the shortlisted authors.