The Jhalak Prize and Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize celebrate British or British-resident writers of colour, annually awarding £1,000 to each of the two winners, along with a unique work of art created by artists chosen for the annual Jhalak Art Residency. All shortlisted authors will also receive a one-year complimentary membership to the London Library, to which the winners receive a two-year membership.

Prize Director Sunny Singh said: “This year’s longlists feature books about mourning and memorialisation, survival and resilience, and most of all, finding hope, courage and joy in the unlikeliest of places.”

As with previous years, the longlists demonstrate the exceptional quality and breadth of work produced by British writers of colour today. The judges describe the lists as "a fantastic gift for readers."

Alongside the range of writing, publishers of different sizes are represented, from indies such as Rough Trade Books and Canongate to the bigger publishing houses like Pan Macmillan and Simon & Schuster.

Singh added: "It’s the seventh year of the Jhalak Prize and although sometimes the challenges facing us seem insurmountable, there is also clear evidence of change and growth. Once again, I am struck by the quality and range of books submitted to us. These are testaments to the creativity, craft, imagination and most of all, literary excellence among writers of colour in Britain today."

Haleh Agar, Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Monisha Rajesh are the judges for the 2023 Jhalak Prize, while the Children’s & Young Adult Prize will be decided by authors Yaba Badoe, Maisie Chan and Irfan Master. 

Chan said: "For me, the Jhalak longlist represents the very best of writing coming out of the UK by writers of colour. I was taken to far off fantastical places, I learnt new things, I laughed and cried. The craft that went into all of these books was astounding."

The 2022 Jhalak Prize was won by Sabba Khan for her graphic novel The Roles We Play. The Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize was won by Maisie Chan for her debut Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths.

The shortlist for both awards will be announced on 18th April 2023, and the winners will be announced on 25th May 2023 in partnership with the British Library.

The longlist features LoveReading favourites including Lola Jaye's Attic Child about which Joanne Owen commented: "This devastatingly brilliant novel represents forgotten Black British history through the soul-stirring story of a Congolese boy torn from his family in the early 20th-century, and his connection to a woman in 1990s England." And Star Book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho "telling the extraordinary story of a Black Briton who rose from being born on a slave ship to lead the fight to end slavery, this is historic fiction at its most exhilarating."

When We Were Birds is another beautiful book which Joanne Owen called "a spellbinding, bone-resonant story of love, death, ritual, ancestral legacies and the sweetness of healing set in a fictionalised Trinidadian city."

The Jhalak Prize Longlist:

None of the Above by Travis Alabanza

Birdgirl by Mya-Rose Craig 

Takeaway by Angela Hui 

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, Paterson Joseph 

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu 

Losing the Plot by Derek Owusu 

The Room Between Us by Denise Saul 

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

Hiding to Nothing by Anita Pati 

Another Way to Split Water by Alycia Pirmohamed 

To see the longlist for the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize, visit our feature on LoveReading4Kids.

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