Hosted once again by Literature Wales
The twelve English-language titles shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year Awards 2021 were revealed on the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show earlier in the month.
The prize, which has four categories in each language – Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-fiction and Children & Young People – with a collective prize fund of £14,000, celebrates outstanding literary talent from Wales across various genres in both English and Welsh.
The books nominated for this year’s English-language awards are:
POETRY AWARD
Tiger Girl, Pascale Petit (Bloodaxe Books)
Come Down, Fiona Sampson (Corsair Poetry)
Road Trip, Marvin Thompson (Peepal Tree Press)
THE RHYS DAVIES TRUST FICTION AWARD
The Memory, Judith Barrow (Honno Press)
Salt, Catrin Kean (Gwasg Gomer)
Wild Spinning Girls, Carol Lovekin (Honno Press)
CREATIVE NON-FICTION AWARD
The Amazingly Astonishing Story, Lucy Gannon (Seren Books)
Slatehead: The ascent of Britain’s Slate climbing scene, Peter Goulding (New Welsh Review)
Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist, Victoria Owens (Pen & Sword)
CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE AWARD
The Infinite, Patience Agbabi (Canongate Books)
Blood Moon, Lucy Cuthew (Walker Books)
Wilde, Eloise Williams (Firefly Press)
These titles are available online from a number of stockists, including: Book Depository, Blackwell’s and Foyles for Books.
The English-language judges for this prestigious award are poet, writer and dancer Tishani Doshi; teacher, reviewer and influencer Scott Evans; Paralympian, Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords, motivational speaker and broadcaster, Tanni Grey-Thompson; and academic, writer, activist and former winner of Wales Book of the Year (2003), Charlotte Williams.
The winners will be revealed on the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show on Friday 31st July from 6.00 pm, where representatives from the judging panel, Literature Wales and literary pundits will join presenter Nicola Heywood-Thomas for this highlight in the Welsh literary calendar. The Welsh-language winners will be announced in a series of programmes on BBC Radio Cymru’s Stiwdio programme between 2nd – 4th August.
The awards ceremony for the competition includes a people’s choice.
Image © Literature Wales 2021