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Penguin Group (USA) Publishes Two of the Six Books on the Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist

Two books from Penguin Group (USA) have been selected for this year’s Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist: Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears (Riverhead) and Ceridwen Dovey’s Blood Kin (Viking). They are two of just three of the debut authors shortlisted for the honor.

The Dylan Thomas Prize, which is sponsored by the University of Wales, is designed to encourage creative talent in writers under the age of 30, and was established to honor the internationally esteemed work of Dylan Thomas, whose first book of poetry was published when he was 21. It is a global award, open to any work, from any genre, which has been published in the English language. With a £60,000 prize, it is one of the highest paying and prestigious literary awards.

The six writers, who are all under 30, were selected from a 16-strong long list unveiled in July, which was described by the Prize founder, Professor Peter Stead, as "one of the strongest (longlists) ever seen amongst any international literary prize." The 16 books covered a broad range of issues, including relationships, religion, racial prejudice and bereavement. Here’s what the judges had to say about Blood Kin and The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears:

Kurt Heinzelman, American poet and academic, said:

"Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey is ominously titled but the narrative is deft, even understated, in its depiction of power struggles that are political, sexual, and familial. The narrative itself is multi-voiced, intricately layered, and unflinching."

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There's a (likely apocryphal) story about a famous author who addressed an audience full of people who aspired to literary success. "You want to be writers?" he asked them. "Then go home and write." End of address. Of course I can't remember who the writer in question was, so I guess the joke's on him.

 

Still, since there doesn't seem to be any other one reliable way to "become a writer" -- beyond simply by writing, that is -- people tend to ask writers how they managed it. The answer isn't always encouraging to the aspiring scribbler, as it generally includes the difficult-to-fake elements of years of hard work and frustration combined with one or two bucketfuls of luck. Alas, I am no exception. I spent years flailing around hopelessly, rarely earning anything for stringing sentences together, until one day I was invited over to Garrison Keillor's house. So in my case, it was more like a swimming pool of luck.

I'd been told I had a way with written words since grade school, but it wasn't until my early twenties that I started my first novel, largely at the encouragement of my wife. I worked on the book for several years and through a number of life changes, got it as good as I could get it, shopped it around to some agents, and finally landed one. Eventually that agency went under, and I gave up on the book for a while.