Shortlists announced for the 2025 Jhalak Prizes

The 2025 Jhalak Prize shortlists have been announced, including the shortlist for the Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize.

First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize awards seek to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. In 2020, a dedicated Jhalak Children’s YA Prize was established and from 2024, the Jhalak Poetry Prize was added.

 

 

 

 

 

Six books are on the shortlist for the Children’s and YA Prize. They are:

Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari (Walker)

Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield, illustrated by Hoang Giang (Puffin)

King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books)

Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury)

The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe (Usborne)

The Thread That Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud (Usborne)

This year’s judges are Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Hiba Noor Khan and Alom Shaha.

Hiba Noor Khan, judge and winner of the 2024 Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize with Safiyyah’s War says, ‘I’ve been inspired, entertained, and moved by entries, and consistently reminded just how vital and urgent the Prize is.’

The Jhalak Prize‘s ongoing partnership with National Book Tokens sees bookshops up and down the country championing the prize, each year reaching new reading communities.

2025 also sees the expansion of the annual Jhalak Art Residency. An artist of colour is commissioned to create a unique work of art that serves as the trophy for the winner of the three Jhalak Prize awards.

The artists in residence for 2025 are

Lucy Farfort – Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize
Khaver Idrees – Jhalak Poetry Prize
Ketna Patel – Jhalak Prose Prize

Jhalak Prize founder Sunny Singh says, ‘The authors on our 2025 shortlists do not flinch from harsh realities of our histories, times and lives. Yet each of these books is an exquisitely crafted, stunning work of literature that is full of love, hope and joy.’

Find out more about all the Jhalak Prize 2025 Shortlists.