Jhalak Prize
| Jhalak Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Book of the year by a writer of colour |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Reward | £1,000 |
| First award | 2017 |
| Website | Official website |
The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner.
The Jhalak Prize was launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sunny Singh, Nikesh Shukla, and Media Diversified. It is supported by The Authors’ Club and by The Jhalak Foundation,[1] owned by Professor Singh's family. The prize and foundation are named after Professor Singh's grandmother.[2] It is the second literary prize in the UK to only accept entries by writers of colour, following the SI Leeds Literary Prize for BAME women writers, which was first awarded in 2012. In 2017, the comedian Shappi Khorsandi withdrew her novel from the longlist because she said she felt that "my skin colour was up for an award rather than my book".[3] Consequentially, the prize was reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission,[4][5] but the complaint was not upheld, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission stated in 2017 that "this award is the type of action which the Commission supports and recommends".[6]
In 2020, a sister award, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, was founded.[7]
From 2025 onwards the prize was divided into two separate awards for prose and poetry.
Jhalak Prize (2017–2024) recipients
[edit | edit source]- ^ The 2017 judges were Sunny Singh, Catherine Johnson, Yvvette Edwards, Musa Okwonga, and Alex Wheatle.
- ^ The 2018 judges were Sunny Singh, Catherine Johnson, Tanya Byrne, Vera Chok, and Noo Saro-Wiwa.
- ^ The 2019 judges were Anna Perera, Sabrina Mahfouz, Sarah Shaffi, and Siana Bangura.
- ^ The 2020 judges were Roy McFarlane, Anita Sethi, Nikesh Shukla, and Kerry Young.
- ^ The 2021 judges were Yvonne Battle-Felton, Louise Doughty and Peter Kalu.
- ^ The 2022 judges were Mary Jean Chan, Chimene Suleyman and Stephen S. Thompson.
- ^ The 2023 judges were Haleh Agar, Yaba Badoe, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Maisie Chan, Irfan Master and Monisha Rajesh.
- ^ The 2024 judges were Anni Domingo, Danielle Jawando, Stella Oni, J. P. Rose, Denise Saul and Rashmi Sirdeshpande.
Prose Prize
[edit | edit source]| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | N.S. Nuseibeh | Namesake | Winner | [32] | |
| Maame Blue | The Rest of You | Shortlist | |||
| Aniefiok Ekpoudom | Where We Come From | ||||
| Ashani Lewis | Everest | ||||
| Hisham Matar | My Friends | ||||
| Varaidzo | Manny and the Baby |
Poetry Prize
[edit | edit source]| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mimi Khalvati | Collected Poems | Winner | [32] | |
| Amaan Hyder | Self-Portrait with Family | Shortlist | |||
| Karen McCarthy Woolf | Top Doll | ||||
| Gboyega Odubanjo | Adam | ||||
| Azad Ashim Sharma | Boiled Owls | ||||
| Rushika Wick | Horse |
Children's and Young Adult Prize recipients
[edit | edit source]| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Patrice Lawrence | Eight Pieces of Silva | Winner | [20][21] | |
| Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Avril Filomeno | The GA Picture Alphabet | Kane Series | Shortlist | [22][23] | |
| Kereen Getten | When Life Gives You Mangoes | Pushkin Children's | |||
| Danielle Jawando | And the Stars Were Burning Brightly | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Catherine Johnson | Queen of Freedom | Pushkin Children's | |||
| Margaret Sturton | A Fox Called Herbert | Andersen Press | |||
| 2022 | Maisie Chan | Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths | Piccadilly Press | Winner | [24] |
| Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé | Ace of Spades | Usborne Publishing | Shortlist | [25][26] | |
| Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola | We're Going to Find the Monster | Puffin Books | |||
| Jeffrey Boakye, illus by Ngadi Smart | The Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs | Faber | |||
| Rebecca Henry | The Sound of Everything | Everything With Words | |||
| Manjeet Mann | The Crossing | Penguin | |||
| 2023 | Danielle Jawando | When our Worlds Collided | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [27][28] |
| Lucy Farfort | In Our Hands | Tate | Shortlist | [29] | |
| Janelle McCurdy, illus by Ana Latese | Mia and the Lightcasters | Faber | |||
| Christine Pillainayagam | Ellie Pillai Is Brown | Faber | |||
| Ann Sei Lin | Rebel Skies | Walker Books | |||
| Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illus. by Ruchi Mhasane | Dadaji’s Paintbrush | Andersen Press | |||
| 2024 | Hiba Noor Khan | Safiyyah's War | Andersen Press | Winner | [33][31] |
| Nadia Shireen | Geoffrey Gets The Jitters | Penguin Random House | Shortlist | [33] | |
| Benjamin Dean | How to Die Famous | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Nathaneal Lessore | Steady for This | Hot Key Books | |||
| Erika Meza | To the Other Side | Hachette Children's | |||
| Candy Gourlay | Wild Song | David Fickling | |||
| 2025 | Nathanael Lessore | King of Nothing | Winner | [34] | |
| Lanisha Butterfield and Hoang Giang | Flower Block | Shortlist | |||
| Dev Kothari | Bringing Back Kay-Kay | ||||
| Ayaan Mohamud | The Thread That Connects Us | ||||
| Chibundu Onuzo | Mayowa and the Sea of Words | ||||
| Ashley Thorpe | The Thread That Connects Us |
Notes
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Official website
- Sunny Singh, "First year of Jhalak Prize paints a grim picture of diversity in publishing", Media Diversified, 19 September 2017.