15th Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize longlist announced

642

Diversity in longlist for young writers prize released on 24 January

From Brazil to Hong Kong, India, and Ukraine via Vietnam, this year’s powerful Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize longlist combines a rich, international collection of young, experimental writers who are offering platforms for under-represented voices and exploring pressing social and world themes across identity, culture and power.

Worth £30,000, it is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes as well as the world’s largest literary prize for young writers. Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

15th Dylan Thomas prize longlist for young writers announced
From left – Jay Bernard, Mary Jean Chan, Meena Kandasamy, Kirsty Logan, Helen Mort, Yelena Moskovich, Téa Obreht, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Stephen Sexton, Madhuri Vijay, Ocean Vuong and Bryan Washington

Celebrating the Prize’s 15th anniversary, the announced longlist includes acclaimed Indian feminist writer and novelist, Meena Kandasamy, Hong Kong born LGBTQ+ poet Mary Jean Chan, Ukrainian-born artist and writer Yelena Moskovich, Brazilian-British debut novelist Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Vietnamese-American novelist Ocean Vuong, and Belgrade-born Orange Prize winner Téa Obreht are among the 12 authors on the longlist for the £30,000 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.

The 12 longlisted titles will be judged by a guest panel chaired by Swansea University’s Professor Dai Smith CBE, including annual judge Professor Kurt Heinzelman, the award-winning writer and founder of the Jaipur Literature Festival Namita Gokhale, acclaimed writer and 2011 winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize Lucy Caldwell, the British-Ghanaian writer, poet and critic Bridget Minamore, celebrated writer and presenter of BBC Radio 3: The Verb Ian McMillan and national arts and culture journalist Max Liu.

The shortlist will be announced on the 7th April, followed by a British Library Event in London on the 13th May and the Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on International Dylan Thomas Day, 14th May 2020. This year’s longlist comprises seven novels, three poetry collections and two short story collections:
· Surge – Jay Bernard (Chatto & Windus)
· Flèche – Mary Jean Chan (Faber & Faber)
· Exquisite Cadavers – Meena Kandasamy (Atlantic Books)
· Things we say in the Dark – Kirsty Logan (Harvell Secker, Vintage)
· Black Car Burning – Helen Mort (Chatto & Windus)
· Virtuoso –Yelena Moskovich (Serpent’s Tail)
· Inland – Téa Obreht (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
· Stubborn Archivist – Yara Rodrigues Fowler (Fleet)
· If All the World and Love were Young – Stephen Sexton (Penguin Random House)
· The Far Field – Madhuri Vijay (Atlantic Books)
· On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong (Jonathan Cape, Vintage)
· Lot – Bryan Washington (Atlantic Books)

Meena Kandasamy's Exquisite Cadavers makes it to Dylan Thomas Prize longlist
Meena Kandasamy’s Exquisite Cadavers makes it to the longlist of the Dylan Thomas Prize for young authors announced on 24 January 2020

On receiving the 2019 award for his debut novel In Our Mad and Furious City, Guy Gunaratne said: “Dylan Thomas has always meant a lot to me, he’s a writer I’ve always turned to for inspiration. And after winning this prize, my mind just goes to all the other writers, or aspiring writers, who are writing from a place like where I began. A place like Neasden, somewhere I always thought was a nowhere place. But to make art out of the world, the language, the voices I grew up around I always felt was important…”

Of special interest to South Asian and Indian readers are the longlist nominations of Meena Kandasamy for Exquisite Cadavers published by Atlantic Books and Madhuri Vijay’s The Far Field also published by Atlantic Books. 

 

 

 

 

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here