Palestinian novelist’s debut book wins Dylan Thomas Prize

Palestinian author Yasmin Zaher has been revealed as the winner of the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – for her provocative debut novel, The Coin, marking twenty years of this global accolade.

Chosen in a unanimous decision by this year’s judging panel, The Coin draws on Zaher’s personal experiences to dissect nature and civilisation, beauty and justice, class and belonging in a vivid exploration of identity and heritage.

Namita Gokhale, Chair of Judges, said on behalf of the panel: “Whittling our exceptional longlist of twelve down to six brilliant books, and then again to just one, was not an easy exercise – yet the judging panel was unanimous in their decision to name debut novelist Yasmin Zaher as the winner of the 2025 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.

“Zaher brings complexity and intensity to the page through her elegantly concise writing: The Coin is a borderless novel, tackling trauma and grief with bold and poetic moments of quirkiness and humour. It fizzes with electric energy. Yasmin Zaher is an extraordinary winner to mark twenty years of this vital prize.”

Talent

Yasmin Zaher was awarded the £20,000 prize – which celebrates exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under – at a ceremony held in Swansea on Thursday 15 May. The Coin, which was released in Paperback on 1 May 2025, is published by Footnote Press, a mission-oriented publisher committed to providing a platform for marginalised stories and perspectives.

The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. The prize invokes Thomas’ memory to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

The other titles shortlisted for the 2025 Prize were Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House),Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (Fig Tree, Penguin Random House), The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Viking, Penguin Random House UK), I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson (Faber & Faber), and Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams (4th Estate).

The 2025 Prize was judged by Namita Gokhale, the multi-award-winning Indian writer of more than twenty-five works of fiction and non-fiction (Paro: Dreams of Passion, Things to Leave Behind) as well as the co-director of the famed Jaipur Literature Festival, along with: Professor Daniel Williams, Director of the Richard Burton Centre for the Study of Wales and Co-Director of the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales at Swansea University; Jan Carson, award-winning novelist and writer (The Fire Starters, The Raptures); Mary Jean Chan, winner of the Costa Book Award and former Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlistee (Flèche, Bright Fear); and Max Liu, literary critic and contributor to the Financial Times, the i and BBC Radio 4.

Yasmin Zaher joins an astonishing list of writers to have been awarded this prestigious prize, including Caleb Azumah Nelson, Arinze Ifeakandu, Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Maggie Shipstead, Guy Gunaratne, and Kayo Chingonyi.

The Coin

The Coin‘s narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman with impeccable style and meticulous hygiene. And yet the ideal self, the ideal life, remains just out of reach: her inheritance is inaccessible, her homeland exists only in her memory and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the start.

In New York, she strives to put down roots. She teaches at a school for underprivileged boys, where her eccentric methods cross boundaries. She befriends a homeless swindler, and the two participate in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags.

But America is stifling her – her wilfulness, her sexuality, her principles. In an attempt to regain control, she becomes preoccupied with purity, cleanliness and self-image, all while drawing her students into her obsessions. In an unforgettable denouement, her childhood memories converge with her material and existential statelessness and the narrator unravels spectacularly.

In enthralling, sensory prose, The Coin explores nature and civilisation, beauty and justice, class and belonging – all while resisting easy moralising. Provocative, wry and inviting, The Coin marks the arrival of a major new literary voice.