Jhalak Prize 2022 shortlists announced

The shortlists for the UK’s Jhalak Prize and the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) writers have been announced.

The titles shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize are:

• Consumed (Arifa Akbar, Sceptre)
• Somebody Loves You (Mona Arshi, And Other Stories)
• Like a Tree, Walking (Vahni Capildeo, Carcanet)
• Keeping the House (Tice Cin, And Other Stories)
• The Roles We Play (Sabba Khan, Myriad)
• Things I Have Withheld (Kei Miller, Canongate Books).

The titles shortlisted for the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize are:

• Ace of Spades (Faridah Àbíkí-Íyímídé, Usborne)
• We’re Going to Find the Monster (Malorie Blackman & Dapo Adeola, Puffin)
• The Musical Truth: A musical history of modern Black Britain in 28 songs (Jeffrey Boakye, illus by Ngadi Smart, Faber)
• Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths (Maisie Chan, Piccadilly Books)
• The Sound of Everything (Rebecca Henry, Everything With Words)
• The Crossing (Manjeet Mann, Penguin).

This is the sixth year of the Jhalak Prize, which was launched in 2016 to recognise ‘authors who feel that their work is often marginalised unless it fulfils a romantic fetishisation of their cultural heritage’. It was established after the 2015 Writing the Future report found that the best chance of publication for writers of colour was to write literary fiction conforming to a stereotypical view of their communities.

The winners, who each receive £1000 (A$1760), will be announced on 26 May. Last year’s Jhalak Prize winner was Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi for her novel The First Woman (Oneworld), while YA author Patrice Lawrence won the inaugural Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize for Eight Pieces of Silva (Hodder Children’s Books).

Category: International news