Judges of prestigious literary prize unveiled

Gosia Buzzanca

The judging panel for this year’s edition of the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers has been announced today.

The reveal of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize judges comes ahead of the longlist announcement on Thursday 22 January.

The shortlist will be unveiled on Thursday 19 March, followed by a celebration event in London (13 May), with the winner revealed on International Dylan Thomas Day (14 May) at an evening ceremony in Swansea.

The 2026 Judging Panel will be chaired by Irenosen Okojie MBE, an award-winning Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language and ideas.

Her novels, Curandera and Butterfly Fish, short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, have won and been nominated for multiple awards. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Observer, The Guardian and the Huffington Post.

She was a judge for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction and was awarded an MBE For Services to Literature in 2021.

Also joining the judging panel for 2026 are:

Joe Dunthorne, poet and novelist, whose debut novel, Submarine, was translated into fifteen languages and made into an award-winning film. His second novel, Wild Abandon, won the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award. His latest book, Children of Radium, was adapted as a podcast for BBC Radio 4. He was born in Swansea and lives in London.

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, poet, pacifist and fabulist. Her first collection, Auguries of a Minor God was a finalist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, and she serves as a member of the Expert Advisory Committee to Culture Ireland and the board of the Dublin Book Festival.

Prajwal Parajuly, author of The Gurkha’s Daughter: Stories and Land Where I Flee, whose work has been nominated for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize and the Mogford Prize in the UK, the Emile Guimet Prize and the First Novel Prize in France, and The Story Prize in the US.

Eley Williams, author of Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she is the author of the short story collection — awarded both the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize — and the Betty Trask Award-winning novel The Liar’s Dictionary.

Worth £20,000, the global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

The prize is named after Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. The prize invokes his memory to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence.

Previous winners include Caleb Azumah Nelson, Arinze Ifeakandu, Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Fiona McFarlane, and Kayo Chingonyi, with last year’s prize awarded to Yasmin Zaher for her novel The Coin.

Elaine Canning, Director of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, told Nation Cymru: “We are delighted to welcome such a distinguished, acclaimed panel of writers and thinkers from across the world as our judges for the 2026 edition of the Dylan Thomas Prize award.

“We also look forward to sharing the 2026 longlist on Thursday 22nd January.”