The 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers: Longlist

THE 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers is Britain’s most lucrative literary award which promotes English-language poetry and drama as well as novels and short-story collections and is restricted to authors under the age of 30. With this prize, the spirit of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is kept aflame. Believe it or not, the winner of the prize gets £60,000 (US$115,000). Zoë Brigley and Joe Dunthorne are both from South Wales. The inaugural 2006 Dylan Thomas Prize was won by Welsh poet Rachel Tresize for her first collection of poetry, Fresh Apples.

The longlist for the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize is as follows:

Novels
1. God’s Own Country (Viking, 2008) / Ross Raisin
2. Submarine (Hamish Hamilton, 2008) / Joe Dunthorne
3. Blood Kin (Atlantic, 2007) / Ceridwen Dovey
4. The Orientalist and the Ghost (Doubleday, 2008) / Susan Barker
5. Ishq and Mushq (Doubleday, 2007) / Priya Basil
6. Blackmoor (Simon and Schuster, 2008) / Edward Hogan
7. Zoology (Vinatge, 2007) / Ben Dolnick
8. Oystercatchers (Fourth Estate, 2007) / Susan Fletcher
9. Satsuma Sun-mover (Lazy Gramophone, 2006) / Adam Green

Stories
10. Sons and Other Flammable Objects (Grove, 2007) / Porochistra Khakpour
11. The Boat (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008) / Nam Le
12. St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) / Karen Russell
13. Children of the Revolution (Jonathan Cape, 2007) / Dinaw Mengestu

Poetry
14. There is an Anger that Moves (Carcanet, 2007) / Kei Miller
15. Trouble Came to the Turnip (Carcanet, 2006) / Caroline Bird
16. The Secret (Bloodaxe, 2007) / Zoë Brigley

A six-book shortlist will be announced in September 2008 and the winner will be declared in November 2008