The judging panel for this year’s edition of the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – will be chaired by Irenosen Okojie MBE, an award-winning Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language and ideas. 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, this 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.