# Jhalak Prize

The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner.
The Jhalak Prize was launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sunny Singh, Nikesh Shukla, and Media Diversified. It is supported by The Authors’ Club and by The Jhalak Foundation, owned by Professor Singh's family. The prize and foundation are named after Professor Singh's grandmother. It is the second literary prize in the UK to only accept entries by writers of colour, following the SI Leeds Literary Prize for BAME women writers, which was first awarded in 2012. In 2017, the comedian Shappi Khorsandi withdrew her novel from the longlist because she said she felt that "my skin colour was up for an award rather than my book". Consequentially, the prize was reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but the complaint was not upheld, and the Equality and Human Rights Commmission stated in 2017 that "this award is the type of action which the Commission supports and recommends".
In 2020, a sister award, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, was founded.

## Jhalak Prize recipients

Jhalak Prize winners and shortlists :
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result |
| 2017 | Jacob Ross | The Bone Readers | | Winner |
| 2017 | Kiran Millwood Hargrave | The Girl of Ink and Stars | The Chicken House | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Abir Mukherjee | A Rising Man | Harvill Secker | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Irenosen Okojie | Speak Gigantular | Jacaranda Books | Shortlist |
| 2017 | David Olusoga | Black and British: A Forgotten History | Macmillan Publishers | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Gary Younge | Another Day In The Death Of America | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Reni Eddo-Lodge | Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race | | Winner |
| 2018 | Nadeem Aslam | The Golden Legend | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Kayo Chingonyi | Kumukanda | Chatto & Windus | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Xiaolu Guo | Once Upon a Time in the East | Chatto & Windus | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Meena Kandasamy | When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife | Atlantic Books | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Kiran Millwood-Hargrave | The Island at the End of Everything | The Chicken House | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Guy Gunaratne | In Our Mad and Furious City | | Winner |
| 2019 | Akala | Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire | Two Roads | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Roma Agrawal | Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures | Bloomsbury | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Raymond Antrobus | The Perseverance | Penned in the Margins | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Aminatta Forna | Happiness | Bloomsbury | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Onjali Q. Rauf | The Boy At the Back of the Class | Orion Children's Books | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Johny Pitts | Afropean: Notes From Black Europe | | Winner |
| 2020 | Dean Atta | The Black Flamingo | Hodder Children's | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Yvonne Battle-Felton | Remembered | Dialogue Books | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Candice Carty-Williams | Queenie | Orion | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Mary Jean Chan | Flèche | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Romesh Gunesekera | Suncatcher | Bloomsbury | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | The First Woman | | Winner |
| 2021 | Romalyn Ante | Antiemetic for Homesickness | Chatto & Windus | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Catherine Cho | Inferno | Bloomsbury | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Rachel Long | My Darling From the Lions | Picador | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Katy Massey | Are We Home Yet | Jacaranda Books | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Paul Mendez | Rainbow Milk | Dialogue Books | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Sabba Khan | The Roles We Play | | Winner |
| 2022 | Arifa Akbar | Consumed | Sceptre | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Mona Arshi | Somebody Loves You | And Other Stories | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Vahni Capildeo | Like a Tree, Walking | Carcenet Press | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Tice Cin | Keeping the House | And Other Stories | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Kei Miller | Things I Have Withheld | Canongate Books | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Travis Alabanza | None of the Above | | Winner |
| 2023 | Ayanna Lloyd Banwo | When We Were Birds | Hamish Hamilton | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Angela Hui | Takeaway | Trapeze | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Paterson Joseph | The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho | Dialogue Books | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Sheena Patel | I'm a Fan | Rough Trade Books | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Anita Pati | Hiding to Nothing | Liverpool University Press | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Yepoka Yeebo | Anansi's Gold: The man who swindled the world | Bloomsbury | Winner |
| 2024 | Jason Allen-Paisant | Self-Portrait as Othello | Carcanet | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Elizabeth-Jane Burnett | Twelve Words for Moss | Penguin | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Jacqueline Crooks | Fire Rush | Vintage | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Noreen Masud | A Flat Place | Penguin | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Ami Rao | Boundary Road | Everything With Words | Shortlist |
* ↑ The 2017 judges were Sunny Singh, Catherine Johnson, Yvvette Edwards, Musa Okwonga, and Alex Wheatle.
* ↑ The 2018 judges were Sunny Singh, Catherine Johnson, Tanya Byrne, Vera Chok, and Noo Saro-Wiwa.
* ↑ The 2019 judges were Anna Perera, Sabrina Mahfouz, Sarah Shaffi, and Siana Bangura.
* ↑ The 2020 judges were Roy McFarlane, Anita Sethi, Nikesh Shukla, and Kerry Young.
* ↑ The 2021 judges were Yvonne Battle-Felton, Louise Doughty and Peter Kalu.
* ↑ The 2022 judges were Mary Jean Chan, Chimene Suleyman and Stephen S. Thompson.
* ↑ The 2023 judges were Haleh Agar, Yaba Badoe, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Maisie Chan, Irfan Master and Monisha Rajesh.
* ↑ The 2024 judges were Anni Domingo, Danielle Jawando, Stella Oni, J. P. Rose, Denise Saul and Rashmi Sirdeshpande.

## Children's and Young Adult Prize recipients

Jhalak Children's and Young Adult Prize winners and shortlists :
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result |
| 2021 | Patrice Lawrence | Eight Pieces of Silva | | Winner |
| 2021 | Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Avril Filomeno | The GA Picture Alphabet | Kane Series | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Kereen Getten | When Life Gives You Mangoes | Pushkin Children’s | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Danielle Jawando | And the Stars Were Burning Brightly | Simon & Schuster | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Catherine Johnson | Queen of Freedom | Pushkin Children’s | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Margaret Sturton | A Fox Called Herbert | Andersen Press | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Maisie Chan | Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths | Piccadilly Press | Winner |
| 2022 | Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé | Ace of Spades | Usborne Publishing | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola | We’re Going to Find the Monster | Puffin Books | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Jeffrey Boakye, illus by Ngadi Smart | The Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Rebecca Henry | The Sound of Everything | Everything With Words | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Manjeet Mann | The Crossing | Penguin | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Danielle Jawando | When our Worlds Collided | Simon & Schuster | Winner |
| 2023 | Lucy Farfort | In Our Hands | Tate | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Janelle McCurdy, illus by Ana Latese | Mia and the Lightcasters | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Christine Pillainayagam | Ellie Pillai Is Brown | Faber | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Ann Sei Lin | Rebel Skies | Walker Books | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illus. by Ruchi Mhasane | Dadaji’s Paintbrush | Andersen Press | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Hiba Noor Khan | Safiyyah's War | Andersen Press | Winner |
| 2024 | Nadia Shireen | Geoffrey Gets The Jitters | Penguin Random House | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Benjamin Dean | How to Die Famous | Simon & Schuster | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Nathaneal Lessore | Steady for This | Hot Key Books | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Erika Meza | To the Other Side | Hachette Children's | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Candy Gourlay | Wild Song | David Fickling | Shortlist |