The Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize recognizes the best published work in the English language written by an author aged 39 or under. The 12-strong longlist for the 2022 prize, announced this morning, features lots of women and diverse voices. All literary genres are eligible. There are eight novels, two poetry collections and two short story collections in the running:

• A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta)
• What Noise Against the Cane by Desiree Bailey (Yale University Press)
• Keeping the House by Tice Cin (And Other Stories)
• Auguries of a Minor God by Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe (Faber)
• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (Tinder Press/Headline)
• No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus)
• Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz (Atlantic Books)
• Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley (John Murray Press)
• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking, Penguin General)
• Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan (Jonathan Cape)
• Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi (Faber)
• Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor (Daunt Books Publishing)

Coming just a week and a half after the Young Writer of the Year Award shortlist news, the longlist repeats two of its titles, Open Water and Acts of Desperation. No One Is Talking About This was shortlisted for the Booker and Women’s Prizes last year. A Passage North was also Booker shortlisted, while The Sweetness of Water was on the longlist.

I happen to have already read and reviewed No One Is Talking About This, Open Water, and Filthy Animals; I DNFed Hot Stew (some thoughts here). I am being sent a copy of Acts of Desperation for my Young Writer of the Year Award reading.

Of the rest, I’m most interested in reading the short story collection Milk Blood Heat and the two poetry nominees, What Noise Against the Cane and Auguries of a Minor God. I’m hoping that review copies of these few, perhaps as part of a longlist blog tour, will be a possibility.

Looking at the longlist, Brandon Taylor immediately jumps out to me as a deserving winner. I feel like his debut novel and follow-up story collection establish him as a confident writer with a mature voice and style that will be with us for the long haul.

This year’s judges are novelist and Swansea University lecturer Alan Bilton, Jaipur Literature Festival founder and director Namita Gokhale (chair), poet Luke Kennard, and novelists Irenosen Okojie and Rachel Trezise.

The shortlist will be announced on 31 March and the winner on 12 May.

(My previous Dylan Thomas Prize coverage: I reviewed a few nominees for the blog tours in 2019 and 2020, and introduced the shortlist in 2021.)

Have you read any of the nominated titles? Which ones appeal to you?