Young poet wins £30k Dylan Thomas prize
ZAMBIAN-BORN poet Kayo Chingonyi has won the 2018 Swansea International Dylan Thomas Prize for his debut collection of poetry.
He was chosen from a shortlist of six authors for the world’s biggest literary prize for young writers, which is worth £30,000.
Hollywood actor and Swansea University fellow Michael Sheen and Dylan Thomas’ granddaughter Hannah Ellis announced the winner of the 10th annual award during a ceremony held at Swansea University.
It came on the eve of the announcement of the shortlist for the 2018 Wales Book of the Year awards.
Kayo won the accolade in memory of Dylan Thomas for his debut poetry collection, Kumukanda, which explores black masculinity and rites of passage for young black men in Britain.
Awarded for the best literary work published 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.
Kayo said: “It’s wonderful to receive an award in the name of Dylan Thomas, whose work was introduced to me by a really inspirational teacher by the name of Rachel Baroni, who introduced me to Under Milk Wood and I’ve been fascinated by his work since then.
“I want to thank my teachers who gave me the confidence to continue writing the poems I was writing just for myself.
“It’s through the kind of inspiration of those people in my life that I continue to write and follow it through, and now poetry is the centre of my life, and there’s no sense in which writing couldn’t be a part of life. I’m very grateful”.
Sheen congratulated Kayo on his win for his “stunning and hugely culturally relevant collection” and said: “Having grown up near Swansea, I feel a very strong connection with Wales’ cultural heritage, and it is truly an honour for me to present an award that brings the best and most exciting young literary talent from around the world to Wales.
“I know first-hand how essential exposure to the written word can be for young minds, and I admire the Dylan Thomas Prize for continuing Thomas’ incredible literary legacy and inspiring the next generation of writers and creators from Wales and beyond.”
Dai Smith, chairman of the prize, added: “Kayo Chingonyi has an original and distinctive voice and this collection, mature and moving, shows a young poet mastering form in various ways to reveal content which is both personal and immensely relevant to the social dilemmas of Britain today.”
Kayo was joined on the shortlist by Carmen Maria Machado (USA), Gwendoline Riley (UK), Sally Rooney (Ireland), Emily Ruskovich (USA) and Gabriel Tallent (USA).