"Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most
prestigious awards for young writers in the world."

Past Winners

In 2006, Wales' own Rachel Trezise won the first Dylan Thomas Prize for her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples.

"Rachel Trezise, a brilliant young Welsh writer discovered and developed by a small independent publisher, Parthian Books [was] the first winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize. We are proud of the fact that this prize focuses the eyes of the literary world upon Wales as a nation that is multi-cultural and outward facing in its reading and writing and we are pleased that the prize gave us the opportunity to highlight our work and reinforce our reputation in this international arena." - Dominic Williams, Parthian Books

In 2008, Vietnamese writer Nam Le, a resident of Australia, won for his short story collection The Boat.

"Winning the Dylan Thomas Prize was a wonderful moment both for Nam Le and for Canongate. From the moment we first read these stories, we were convinced that Nam Le was an immensely talented writer. But achieving recognition for short story collections is notoriously difficult, and before the prize, we felt that THE BOAT had generally not been given the attention it deserved. Nam's win helped to raise the profile of his book among booksellers, critics and readers." - Anya Serota, Canongate Books

The 2010 winner was American poet Elyse Fenton, with her collection of poetry inspired by war, Clamor.

"It's a great winner. It’s an astonishing, fully accomplished book of huge ambition and spectacular delivery. For this Prize of all prizes it’s great to have a poet." - Peter Florence, Chair of Judges

"This is poetry of a very high order. The book’s vision of the relationship between love and war is more than worthy to be considered in the tradition of Dylan Thomas’ work." - Gwyneth Lewis, Poet and member of 2010 judging panel.