Dylan Thomas Prize
The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000. It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of forty. The prize was originally awarded bi-annually, but became an annual award in 2010. Entries for the prize are submitted by the publisher, editor, or agent; for theatre plays and screenplays, by the producer.
A Dylan Thomas literary prize was first awarded during the 1980s, known as the Dylan Thomas Award, following the campaign to have a plaque in the poet's memory placed in Westminster Abbey. Surplus income from a fund-raising concert sponsored by the television company HTV were donated to allow a prize of £1000 to be awarded annually. After several years, the prize was discontinued for lack of finance. It was revived, in a different form, in 2004, sponsored by Electronic Data Systems, at that time one of Swansea's largest employers.
The Prize honours its shortlist finalists and annual winner for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays. “We want the world to be aware of the Welsh interest in promoting new writing. Our Prize provides an inspiration for a whole new generation of writers throughout the English-speaking world,” said Peter Stead, Chair of The Dylan Thomas Prize.
2020
Winner- Bryan Washington, Lot
- Jay Bernard, Surge
- Mary Jean Chan, Flèche
- Téa Obreht, Inland
- Stephen Sexton, If All the World and Love were Young
- Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- Bryan Washington, Lot
- Meena Kandasamy, Exquisite Cadavers
- Kirsty Logan, Things we say in the Dark
- Helen Mort, Black Car Burning
- Yelena Moskovich, Virtuoso
- Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Stubborn Archivist
- Madhuri Vijay, The Far Field
2019
- Guy Gunaratne, In Our Mad and Furious City
- Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Friday Black
- Zoe Gilbert, Folk
- Louisa Hall, Trinity
- Sarah Perry, Melmoth
- Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, House of Stone
- Michael Donkor, Hold
- Clare Fisher, How the Light Gets In
- Emma Glass, Peach
- Sally Rooney, Normal People
- Richard Scott, Soho
- Jenny Xie, Eye Level
2018
- Kayo Chingonyi, Kumukanda
- Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body & Other Parties
- Gwendoline Riley, First Love
- Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends
- Emily Ruskovich, Idaho
- Gabriel Tallent, My Absolute Darling
2017
- Fiona McFarlane, The High Places
- Anuk Arudpragasm, The Story of a Brief Marriage
- Alys Conran, Pigeon
- Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am
- Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing
- Benjamin Hale, The Fat Artist and Other Stories
- Luke Kennard, Cain
- Hannah Kohler, The Outside Lands
- Helen Oyeyemi, What is Not Yours is Not Yours
- Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent
- Safiya Sinclair, Cannibal
- Callan Wink, Dog Run Moon: Stories
2016
- Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers
- Claire-Louise Bennett, Pond
- Tania James, The Tusk that did the Damage
- Frances Leviston, Disinformation
- Andrew McMillan, Physical
- Sunjeev Sahota, The Year of the Runaways
2014
- Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
- Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
- Eimear McBride, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
- Kseniya Melnik, Snow in May
- Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
- Owen Sheers, Mametz
- Naomi Wood, Mrs.Hemingway
2013
- Claire Vaye Watkins, Battleborn
- Tim Leach, The Last King Of Lydia
- Marli Roode, Call It Dog
- Majok Tulba, Beneath The Darkening Sky
- James Brookes, Sins Of The Leopard
- Jemma L King, The Shape Of A Forest
- Prajwal Parajuly, Land where i flee
2012
- Maggie Shipstead, Seating Arrangements
- Tom Benn, The Doll Princess
- Andrea Eames, The White Shadow
- Chibundu Onuzo, The Spider King’s Daughter
- D.W. Wilson, Once You Break A Knuckle
2011
Shortlist
- Benjamin Hale, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore
- Jacob McArthur Mooney, Folk
- Téa Obreht, The Tiger’s Wife
- Annabel Pitcher, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
2010
- Elyse Fenton, Clamor
- Caroline Bird, Watering Can
- Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal
- Karan Mahajan, Family Planning
- Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy
- Emily Mackie, And this is true
2008
- Nam Le, The Boat
- Caroline Bird, Trouble Came to the Turnip
- Ross Raisin, God’s Own Country
- Ceridwen Dovey, Blood Kin
- Edward Hogan, Blackmoor
- Dinaw Mengestu, Children of the Revolution
2006
- Rachel Trezise, Fresh Apples
- Lucy Caldwell, Where They Were Missed
- Ian Holding, Unfeeling
- Nick Laird, Utterly Monkey and To a Fault
- James Scudamore, The Amnesia Clinic
- Liza Ward, Outside Valentine