We're delighted to share the Jhalak Prize and Jhalak Children's & YA Prize shortlists, which were announced this morning. The Jhalak Prize shortlist features exhilarating fiction, a raw snapshot of contemporary multicultural London, beguiling non-fiction about landscape and the natural world, an audacious true crime tale and an award-winning poet.

The Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize shortlist features thought-provoking young fiction, vividly illustrated picture books, a YA thriller and an assured debut for middle grade readers.

As with previous years, the shortlists demonstrate the exceptional quality and breadth of work produced by this country's writers of colour today. 

Sunny Singh, Jhalak Prize Director commented: “These are books about belonging and its price, about confronting injustice with hope, and about the audacity of trying, even in face of impossible odds.” 

Jhalak Prize Shortlist

A Flat Place by Noreen Masud 

Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Swindled The World by Yepoka Yeebo 

Boundary Road by Ami Rao 

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks 

Self-Portrait As Othello by Jason Allen-Paisant 

Twelve Words for Moss by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett 

Jhalak Children's & YA Prize Shortlist

Geoffrey Gets the Jitters by Nadia Shireen 

How to Die Famous by Benjamin Dean 

Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan 

Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore 

To The Other Side by Erika Meza 

Wild Song by Candy Gourlay 

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