Alabanza, Hui and Joseph shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize

Travis Alabanza, Angela Hui and Paterson Joseph are among the writers shortlisted for the £1,000 Jhalak Prize, while Lucy Farfort, Danielle Jawando and Ann Sei Lin made the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize shortlist. Independent houses have published many of the titles selected for this year’s shortlists. 

The Jhalak Prize is an annual literary prize for British or British-resident writers of colour established in 2016. Six books are selected for each prize and this year the lists showcase a wide range of genres, featuring fiction, memoir, poetry, illustrated picture books and young adult fiction.

Tackling topics such as identity, the effects of violence, social media and toxic relationships, the shortlisted titles "explore a kaleidoscope of themes through inventive narratives".

Alabanza was shortlisted for None of the Above (Canongate), "a beautiful book of intense vulnerability, generosity and humour" while Hui was nominated for Takeaway (Trapeze) "a story of the 24/7 active, hidden life of one of the families who make the tasty food that sustains us and that we take for granted" as well as "action-thriller level drama; insights into China and Hong Kong; teenage angst and gradual peace; a new mental map linking the Welsh valleys with the palatial warehouses of Cardiff and Birmingham". 

Joseph is up for The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (Dialogue) praised by judges as a "beautifully written ... instant classic" while Ayanna Lloyd Banwo made the list with her "utterly immersive" When We Were Birds (Hamish Hamilton), while Sheena Patel is in the running with "razor sharp and highly addictive" I’m a Fan (Rough Trade Books) and Anita Pati with her "stunning" book Hiding to Nothing (Liverpool University Press).

The 2023 shortlist for the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize included Farfort for In Our Hands (Tate) which shows "we’re never too small to make a difference", Jawando with the "powerful" When Our Worlds Collided (Simon & Schuster), and Janelle McCurdy and illustrator Ana Latese for the "fast-paced" Mia and the Lightcasters (Faber). Christine Pillainayagam is on the shortlist for "expertly crafted" Ellie Pallai is Brown (Faber) and Ann Sei Lin for "outstanding debut" Rebel Skies (Walker), while Rashmi Sirdeshpande is up for the prize with the "beautifully touching" Dadaji’s Paintbrush (Andersen), alongside illustrator Ruchi Mhasane. 

This year sees the return of the partnership launched in 2021 with National Book Tokens, which aims to help increase awareness and support for the nominated titles among bookshops across the UK and Ireland. Over 150 bookshops including Blackwell’s and Foyles have taken point-of-sale material to promote the prize in their stores, with Waterstones and Bookshop.org promoting across their websites and social media.

The two winners will be announced at the British Library on Thursday 25th May 2023. Each winner will be awarded £1,000 and a specially created work of art as part of the ongoing Jhalak Art Residency. This year’s artists are Sharon Adebisi and Diane Ewen.

The Jhalak Prize has partnered with the London Library for the second year. All shortlisted authors will receive a complimentary one-year membership to the library and will be invited to attend an event to showcase the shortlists on 18th May.

Commenting on the 2023 shortlists, prize director Sunny Singh said: "Jhalak Prize judges this year have pulled together a shortlist that showcases the extraordinary talent, creativity and excellence in craft among writers of colour in Britain today. Given the strength of our longlists, this has been a challenging, joyful and occasionally tearful process of not only selecting books for the shortlist but also letting go of beloved ones. 

"The books they have selected are magnificent in their crafting, immensely ambitious in scope and scale, and richly textured in their content. These are books about grief and renewal, about courage and resilience. These are books to make a reader feel and think. And they are books that fill us with joy, courage and, most of all, hope."

The 2022 Prize was won by Sabba Khan for her graphic novel The Roles We Play (Myriad). The Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize was won by Maisie Chan for Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths (Piccadilly Press).