The prize, which was founded in 2017 releases a stunning list of works by British writers

The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour has announced its annual longlist. Spanning fiction, YA, non-fiction, debuts, poetry and short stories, the selection is an exciting snapshot of the incredible array of writers of colour in Britain today.

In its inaugural year, the prize went to Jacob Ross for his Caribbean crime thriller, The Bone Readers.

Sunny Singh, the prize co-founder and panel chair commented:

“The last few months have been an incredible journey through beautifully crafted, intellectually challenging and emotionally rich books. The longlist demonstrates the extraordinary range of themes, ideas and forms from British writers of colour. We have whittled down our favourites to 12 books for the longlist with much difficulty and am not sure how we will ever arrive at a shortlist, far less a winner.”

Judge Vera Chok added:

“An incredible thing about the Jhalak Prize is that it’s open across genres. I’ve been especially delighted to discover writers of colour beyond literary fiction and memoir, making their mark in the fields of non-fiction, children’s writing, and experimental forms.”

In 2018 the all-woman judging panel includes writer Sunny Singh, YA author Catherine Johnson, novelist Tanya Byrne, writer and performer Vera Chok and travel writer and journalist Noo Saro-Wiwa.

Jhalak Prize 2018 Longlist

John Agard, Come All You Little Persons (Faber)

Nadeem Aslam, The Golden Legend (Faber)

Jeffrey Boakye, Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials and the Meaning of Grime (Influx Press)

Sita Brahmachari, Worry Angels (Barrington Stoke)

Kayo Chongonyi, Kumakanda (Chatto & Windus)

Yrsa Daley-Ward, Bone (Penguin)

Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I ‘m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Bloomsbury Circus)

Xialou Guo, Once Upon a Time in the East (Chatto & Windus)

Meena Kandasamy, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (Atlantic Books)

Kiran Millwood Hargrave, The Island at the End of Everything (Chicken House)

Leone Ross, Come Let Us Sing Anyway (Peepal Tree Press)

Preti Taneja, We That Are Young (Galley Beggar Press)

The shortlist will be announced on 20th of February, 2018 and the winner will be announced on 15th of March, 2018.

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