Folding Rock is delighted to share that its partner, the Dylan Thomas Prize – arguably the world’s most prestigious literary award for young writers – has named its six-strong shortlist today for its 2026 iteration (19 March).
Comprising four novels and two poetry collections, the shortlist includes four extraordinary debut authors, whose writing explores love and beauty, society and gender – with a distinct focus on coming-of-age stories. The shortlist is:
Irenosen Okojie MBE, Chair of Judges, said: ‘This is a marvellous, galvanising shortlist. We’re thrilled by the scope, breadth and depth of these works across forms. These books have profound things to say about the ways we live, what it means to be human and overall are propulsive reads that imbue the writing space with new energies.’
Judging this years prize alongside Okojie – the award-winning Nigerian British author of Curandera, Butterfly Fish, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, and former Women’s Prize for Fiction judge – were: Joe Dunthorne, award-winning Swansea-born poet and novelist; Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, poet, pacifist and fabulist; Prajwal Parajuly, multi-award nominated author of The Gurkha’s Daughter and Land Where I Flee; and 2025 shortlistee Eley Williams, acclaimed author and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The British Library will host a shortlist celebratory event on Wednesday 13 May with the winner announced during a ceremony in Swansea on Thursday 14 May, marking International Dylan Thomas Day.
Completing the longlist was Chaotic Good by Isabelle Baafi (Faber), What Remains After a Fire by Kanza Javed (W.W. Norton & Company), The Tiny Things Are Heavier by Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo (Manilla Press [Bonnier Books UK]), Absence by Issa Quincy (Granta), Gunk by Saba Sams (Bloomsbury Circus), and Vanessa Santos’ Make a Home of Me (Dead Ink Books).
Last year’s prize was awarded to Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher for her novel The Coin, and previous winners include Caleb Azumah Nelson, Arinze Ifeakandu, Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Fiona McFarlane, and Kayo Chingonyi.
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