The longlist for this year's Jhalak Poetry Prize has been revealed. First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize awards seek to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. From 2024, the Jhalak Poetry Prize was added to the awards.
This year's longlist showcases twelve outstanding poets, including our Winter 2025 Choice, Foretokens by Sarah Howe, and our Summer 2025 Special Commendation, Heirloom by Catherine-Esther Cowie.
The longlisted books:
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Dante’s Inferno, Lorna Goodison (Carcanet)
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Fragments, Tara Singh (Five Leaves)
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Foretokens, Sarah Howe (Chatto & Windus)
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Heirloom, Catherine-Esther Cowie (Carcanet)
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Holy Boys, Andrés N. Ordorica (Polygon)
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I Sing to the Greenhearts, Maggie Harris (Seren)
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Leaning Against Time: Selected Poems, SuAndi (Carcanet)
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My Dearest Friend, Lady Red Ego (Verve)
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Nature Matters: Vital Poems from the Global Majority, (eds) Mona Arshi & Karen McCarthy Woolf (Faber)
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Pulling Faces, Zakariye (Little Betty)
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The New Carthaginians, Nick Makoha (Penguin)
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Why I am not a Bus Driver, Ashley Hickson-Lovence (Bad Betty)
Browse the longlisted books here, and get 25% off when you use your PBS Member's discount code.