Dylan Thomas Prize longlist announced
31st July 2012 - 5:29pm
The longlist for the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced, with ten young authors in contention to win the GBP 30,000 award.
Presented each year to the author of a novel, play, poetry or travel book in the English language who is under 30, it is among the richest literary awards in the world aimed at a younger demographic.
This year's candidates include two of the youngest ever nominees - 21-year-old Nigerian writer Chibundu Onuzo, who is in contention with The Spider King's Daughter, and Ben Brooks, who is nominated for his coming-of-age novel Grow Up at the age of 20.
The longlist also includes Alexandra Singer, 29, who was diagnosed with a deadly neurological illness four years ago, before making a miraculous recovery, and 27-year-old Canadian author D. W. Wilson, a past recipient of a Man Booker Prize Scholarship and the BBC National Short Story Award.
Peter Stead, founding chairman of the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize, described the longlist as 'quality', with an extensive international span.
'The calibre of the ten longlisted works is outstanding and I'm sure the next few weeks are going to see a number of heated debates as the judging panel whittles down this list of ten extremely talented young writers to the final shortlist for this year's prize,' he added.
This year's judging panel will include former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews, Guardian literary journalist Nicholas Wroe and the Western Mail's arts correspondent Carolyn Hitt, who are tasked with drawing up a shortlist of around five books by late September.
The winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize will then be announced at a ceremony in Thomas' hometown of Swansea on November 9th.