Dylan Thomas Prize

Dylan Thomas Prize Long-List Announced

A long-list of 14 books being considered for The Dylan Thomas Prize was announced last weekend at Margam Park, Port Talbot. Actor Michael Sheen unveiled the list of English language writers under 30, drawn from around the world. The biennial £60,000 prize has become one of the largest literary awards, with the winner announced in November.

The list includes authors from Dylan’s native south Wales, and the rest of UK, South Africa, Kenya, the US and Iran.  

The Welsh authors making the long list are Zoe Brigley from Caerphilly for her poetry collection The Secret (Bloodaxe, 2007) and Joe Dunthorne from Swansea for his novel Submarine (Hamish Hamilton, 2008).

Ross Raisin, 27, from London with his novel, God’s Own Country (Viking, 2008) is also named and Caroline Bird, 24, is the youngest writer on the list with her second poetry collection, Trouble Came to the Turnip (Carcanet Press Ltd, 2006) .

Port Talbot-born actor Michael Sheen, who announced the names on the long-list and said it was a "privilege" to be "part of an award that honours a truly great writer, a fellow Welshman, who has inspired so many young people, like myself, to follow what’s in their heart. Although Dylan Thomas died while still a young man, he demonstrated the kind of unique talent that the Dylan Thomas Prize looks to recognise and reward amongst young writers everywhere across the globe,"  Sheen added. "The sixteen works long-listed this year are very impressive, and certainly showcase the excellence of writing that exists across the entire English-speaking world at present."

The short list of entries will be announced in September ahead of the award ceremony in November.

The judging panel includes Peter Florence, Hay Festival founder and director, and six-time Bafta award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies and poet Kurt Heinzelman. Poet and writer Owen Sheers is also on the panel as is Edward Nawotka, a book columnist for Bloomberg News, and critic and journalist Miranda Sawyer.

The prize was first unveiled jointly in Swansea and New York in 2004 on the 90th anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s birth, to be open to writers of novels, poetry, plays and travel books. Swansea cultural critic and historian Peter Stead, who is also on the judging panel, came up with the idea of the prize.

In 2006 Rhondda-born Rachel Tresize won the prize for her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples.

The shortlist of entries will be announced in September ahead of the award ceremony in November.

Click here to visit the BBC website and view the full Dylan Thomas Prize long-list.