Win the Jhalak Prize 2025 shortlists!

The Jhalak Prize celebrates very best books from writers of colour. This year's shortlists, announced in April, offer narratives that cover a breadth of subjects but are universally resonant, taking the reader across regions of Britain to 90s Ghana and Imperial Japan and beyond as they examine exile, music, addiction, friendships and love.

From dazzling fiction and non-fiction to poetry, children's picture books, middle grade adventures and books for teens, these lists reflect the extraordinary quality of work being produced by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland.

We have three sets of each shortlist to give away, so nine lucky winners can discover these breath-taking books. Enter below and tell us if you'd like to win the Jhalak Prose Prize, Jhalak Poetry Prize or the Jhalak Children's & YA Prize shortlist!

Jhalak Prose Prize 2025 shortlist

• Everest by Ashani Lewis
• Manny and the Baby by Varaidzo
• My Friends by Hisham Matar
• Namesake: Reflections on a Warrior Woman by N.S. Nuseibeh 
• The Rest of You by Maame Blue 
• Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain by Aniefiok Ekpoudom

Jhalak Children's & YA Prize 2025 shortlist

• Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari
  
• Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield, illustrated by Hoang Giang
  
• King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore 
  
• Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo 
  
• The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe
  
• The Thread That Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud 

Jhalak Poetry Prize 2025 shortlist

• Adam by Gboyega Odubanjo
• Boiled Owls by Azad Ashim Sharma
• Collected Poems by Mimi Khalvati 
• Horse by Rushika Wick
• Self-Portrait with Family by Amaan Hyder
• Top Doll by Karen McCarthy Woolf

Find out how we work with the Jhalak Prize to celebrate these brilliant lists with bookshops across the UK and Ireland, and find the shortlisted and longlisted books on the shelves in a bookshop near you.