Dylan Thomas Prize
Encyclopedia
The Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas
, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 ($46,000). It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize is awarded bi-annually. Entries for the prize are submitted by the publisher, editor, or agent; for theatre plays and screenplays, by the producer.
A Dylan Thomas literary prize was first awarded during the 1980s, known as the Dylan Thomas Award, following the campaign to have a plaque in the poet's memory placed in Westminster Abbey
. Surplus income from a fund-raising concert sponsored by the television company HTV
were donated to allow a prize of £1000 to be awarded annually. After several years, the prize was discontinued for lack of finance. It was revived, in a different form, in 2004, sponsored by Electronic Data Systems
, at that time one of Swansea's largest employers.
The Prize honors its shortlist finalists and annual winner for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays. “We want the world to be aware of the Welsh interest in promoting new writing. Our Prize provides an inspiration for a whole new generation of writers throughout the English-speaking world,” said Peter Stead
, Chair of The Dylan Thomas Prize.
Shortlist
Shortlist
Shortlist
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 ($46,000). It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize is awarded bi-annually. Entries for the prize are submitted by the publisher, editor, or agent; for theatre plays and screenplays, by the producer.
A Dylan Thomas literary prize was first awarded during the 1980s, known as the Dylan Thomas Award, following the campaign to have a plaque in the poet's memory placed in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. Surplus income from a fund-raising concert sponsored by the television company HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
were donated to allow a prize of £1000 to be awarded annually. After several years, the prize was discontinued for lack of finance. It was revived, in a different form, in 2004, sponsored by Electronic Data Systems
Electronic Data Systems
HP Enterprise Services is the global business and technology services division of Hewlett Packard's HP Enterprise Business strategic business unit. It was formed by the combination of HP's legacy services consulting and outsourcing business and the integration of acquired Electronic Data Systems,...
, at that time one of Swansea's largest employers.
The Prize honors its shortlist finalists and annual winner for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays. “We want the world to be aware of the Welsh interest in promoting new writing. Our Prize provides an inspiration for a whole new generation of writers throughout the English-speaking world,” said Peter Stead
Peter Stead (writer)
Peter Stead is a Welsh writer, broadcaster and historian.Stead was born in Barry, Wales, and attended grammar schools at Barry and Gowerton. A graduate of University College, Swansea, he was subsequently a visiting Fulbright scholar at Wellesley College, and at the University of North Carolina...
, Chair of The Dylan Thomas Prize.
2010
Winner- Elyse Fenton, Clamor
Shortlist
- Caroline BirdCaroline Bird-Life:Bird was born in 1986. She grew up in Leeds and attended the Steiner School in York and the Lady Eleanor Holles School before moving to London in 2001. She studied English Literature at Oxford University and was president of the Oxford Poetry Society...
, Watering Can - Elyse Fenton, Clamor
- Eleanor CattonEleanor CattonEleanor Catton is a New Zealand author best known for her 2007 debut novel, The Rehearsal. The book deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and Victoria, a girl at his secondary school, as well as the more muted response to the death of another pupil...
, The Rehearsal - Karan MahajanKaran MahajanKaran Mahajan is a Joseph Henry Jackson Award-winning Indian novelist. Mahajan was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and grew up in New Delhi, India. He studied English and Economics at Stanford University. He currently lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn...
, Family Planning - Nadifa MohamedNadifa MohamedNadifa Mohamed is an award-winning Somali-British novelist.-Personal life:Nadifa was born in Hargeisa, Somalia in 1981. In 1986, she moved with her family to London...
, Black Mamba Boy - Emily Mackie, And this is true
2008
Winner- Nam LeNam Le (writer)Nam Le is a Vietnamese-born Australian writer, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize for his book The Boat, a collection of short stories...
, The Boat
Shortlist
- Caroline BirdCaroline Bird-Life:Bird was born in 1986. She grew up in Leeds and attended the Steiner School in York and the Lady Eleanor Holles School before moving to London in 2001. She studied English Literature at Oxford University and was president of the Oxford Poetry Society...
, Trouble Came to the Turnip - Ross RaisinRoss RaisinRoss Raisin is a British novelist. He was born in Keighley in Yorkshire, and after attending Bradford Grammar School he studied English at King's College London, which was followed by a period as a trainee wine bar manager and a postgraduate degree in creative writing at Goldsmith's...
, God’s Own Country - Ceridwen DoveyCeridwen DoveyCeridwen Dovey is a South African and Australian social anthropologist and author.-Biography:Dovey was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and grew up between South Africa and Australia. Her parents derived her unusual name from one of the protagonists in Richard Llewellyn's 1939 Welsh novel,...
, Blood Kin - Edward Hogan, Blackmoor
- Nam LeNam Le (writer)Nam Le is a Vietnamese-born Australian writer, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize for his book The Boat, a collection of short stories...
, The Boat - Dinaw MengestuDinaw MengestuDinaw Mengestu is an award-winning American novelist and writer, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In addition to two novels, he has written for Rolling Stone on the war in Darfur, and for Jane Magazine on the conflict in northern Uganda...
, Children of the Revolution
2006
Winner- Rachel TreziseRachel TreziseRachel Trezise is a Welsh author, born in Cwmparc, Rhondda.-Background and career:Trezise studied at the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of Limerick in Ireland. Her first novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, released in 2002 while she was still as a student, received broad...
, Fresh Apples
Shortlist
- Lucy CaldwellLucy CaldwellLucy Caldwell is a Northern Irish playwright and novelist.Born in Belfast in 1981 in what she later described as into one of the darkest and most turbulent years of the Troubles: the year the hunger strikes began, when within a few months Bobby Sands and nine others died; when things seemed to be...
, Where They Were Missed - Ian HoldingIan HoldingIan Holding is a prominent white Zimbabwean writer widely regarded as being at the forefront of a new generation of Zimbabwean authors and commentators on contemporary Zimbabwe...
, Unfeeling - Nick LairdNick LairdNicholas 'Nick' Laird is a novelist and poet who was born, and grew up, in Cookstown, County Tyrone. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he attained a first in English. He went on to work at the global law firm Allen & Overy in London for six years, before leaving to concentrate...
, Utterly Monkey and To a Fault (Two entries) - James ScudamoreJames Scudamore (author)James Scudamore is an author. He grew up in Japan, Brazil and the UK, and is a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford and of the University of East Anglia.-Books:...
, The Amnesia Clinic - Rachel TreziseRachel TreziseRachel Trezise is a Welsh author, born in Cwmparc, Rhondda.-Background and career:Trezise studied at the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of Limerick in Ireland. Her first novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, released in 2002 while she was still as a student, received broad...
, Fresh Apples - Liza Ward, Outside ValentineOutside ValentineOutside Valentine is a novel written by American author Liza Ward. It was released in the United States on August 12, 2004. It is a fictional account of the son of two of Starkweather's victims and how the brutal murders still haunt him into adulthood...