The 2024 shortlist for the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced and Africa’s Ayòbámi Adébáyò and Caleb Azumah Nelson are both among the finalists. Ayòbámi was shortlisted for her book, A Spell of Good Things, while Caleb made the list for his book, Small Worlds.
Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer who passed on aged 39. The International Dylan Thomas Prize was established by Swansea University in his honour, with the aim of encouraging raw creative talent from all around the world. The Prize comes with £20,000 in cash and is awarded annually to the best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under. It has been previously won by Fiona McFarlane, Patricia Lockwood, Kayo Chingonyi, Raven Leilani, and Arinze Ifeakandu.
The 2024 jury is chaired by author, co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival Namita Gokhale, alongside prize-winning Welsh author and lecturer in Creative Writing at Swansea University, Jon Gower, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2022 and Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Seán Hewitt, former BBC Gulf Correspondent and author of Telling Tales: An Oral History of Dubai, Julia Wheeler, and interdisciplinary artist and author of Keeping the House, longlisted for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize in 2022, Tice Cin.
Neither of Ayòbámi nor Caleb is a stranger to the Prize as they’ve both been longlisted and shortlisted respectively for their indivual debut novels—Stay With Me (2018) and Open Water (2022). This year’s winner will be revealed at a ceremony in Swansea on Thursday, May 16, following International Dylan Thomas Day on Tuesday, May 14.
Congratulations to Ayòbámi and Caleb and we wish them better luck this year!
