Co-founded by London Met's Professor Sunny Singh, the award is helping to improve diversity across British publishing and has become one of the industry's most prestigious accolades.
Date: 3 May 2022
Britain's premier award for writers of colour, the Jhalak Prize, has received a record number of submissions for 2022. Co-founded by London Met's Professor Sunny Singh, the prize champions creatives of colour and provides a platform for both new and established authors.
The Jhalak Prize was first awarded in 2017 and has swiftly been established as one of the industry's most prestigious accolades. The award is helping to improve diversity across British publishing and providing support to writers in an industry that has often overlooked works from people of colour.
"The progress has been slow but we are seeing an increasing number of writers of colour showcased in bookshop windows and on prize and bestseller lists, festival programmes, magazine covers, and even hoardings and posters,” Professor Singh told the publishing industry magazine The Bookseller.
The award accepts submissions from all genres, styles, and forms of writing. A separate prize for Child and Young Adult authors is also up for grabs.
Partnerships with London Library, National Book Tokens, the Author's Club, and the British Library have also been established to bring attention to the wide selection of literature authored by people of colour.
"This is a good moment to pause and celebrate the extraordinary range of creativity and talent on the Jhalak shortlists”.
Singh, a globally renowned author and academic, is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the arts at London Met. The Jhalak Prize was co-founded with Nikesh Shukla, author of the 2016 bestseller 'The Good Immigrant'.
The winner of the Book of the Year prize and Children/Young Adult Book of the Year prize will be announced on 26 May 2022. The judging panel includes Mary Jean Chan, Chimene Suleyman, and Patrice Lawrence, previous Jhalak Prize winner.
Jhalak Prize Shortlist for 2022
- 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)
Children and YA Shortlist for 2022
- 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, illustrated Ngadi Smart, (Faber & Faber)
- Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths, Maisie Chan (Piccadilly Press)
- The Sound of Everything, Rebecca Henry (Everything With Words)
- The Crossing, Manjeet Mann (Penguin Random House Children's)
