Writer, publisher and festival director Namita Gokhale was announced as one of the members of the 2018 jury of the prestigious International Dylan Thomas Prize on December 20. The award, given to the best published literary work in English written by an author aged 39 or under comes with a cash prize of £30,000 (approximately Rs 25 lakh).
Gokhale is joined on the jury by poet Kurt Heinzelman, playwright Paul McVeigh, novelist Rachel Trezise and historian Dai Smith, who will be the chair. “The panel of judges assembled for 2018 under my chairmanship bring to their formidable task experience of Wales and the world, of the practice of creative writing in prose and poetry, of drama and communication, of readers’ expectations and writers’ risk taking, and, of course, of the multifariousness of Dylan himself,” said Smith.
Launched in 2006 in honour of poet Dylan Thomas, the prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world for young writers. Past winners of the award include Fiona McFarlane, Joshua Ferris and Max Porter. The winners of the 2018 prize will be announced on May 18, 2018.
It’s been a busy year of accolades for Namita Gokhale, a prominent figure in Indian publishing as the co-founder of the Jaipur and Bhutan literature festivals and the author of 16 works of fiction and non-fiction. Earlier this year, she was given the first Centenary National Award for Literature from Asam Sahitya Sabha. Her new novel Things To Leave Behind is on the longlist of the International Dublin Literary Award and the shortlist of the Crossword Book Jury Awards.
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