Kayo Chingonyi wins the 2018 Dylan Thomas Prize for Kumukanda

Chatto & Windus poet Kayo Chingonyi has won the £30,000 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize for his debut collection, Kumukanda.

Awarded for the best literary work published in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

BAFTA-award winning actor and Swansea University fellow Michael Sheen and Dylan Thomas’ granddaughter Hannah Ellis announced Chingonyi as the winner of the award at a ceremony held at Swansea University. Sheen said:

"I’d like to congratulate Kayo Chingonyi for winning the 10th Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize, for his debut collection of poetry Kumukanda, a stunning and hugely culturally relevant collection of poems that keenly explore black culture, masculinity and identity in Britain today.’"

Kayo overcame strong competition from a shortlist which included Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends (Faber), Emily Ruskovich’s Idaho (Chatto & Windus), Gabriel Tallent’s My Absolute Darling (Fourth Estate), Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection Her Body & Other Parties (Serpent’s Tail), and British novelist Gwendoline Riley’s First Love (Granta).

2018 marks the tenth edition of The Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize, named after Wales’ most lauded writer, Swansea-born Dylan Thomas who died 65 years ago this year, aged just 39 years old.