Today in our poetry news round-up we take a look at the shortlist for this year”s Dylan Thomas Prize. We also look at just one of the lists of self-isolation reading that have been created.

Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist

The shortlist for this year”s Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced and it is dominated by the work of debut poets.  The prize which is worth £30,000 has attracted a significant number of experimental and young poets this year.

Surge, the poetry collection of Jay Barnard, which won the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize in 2017, has made the list along with Fleche by Mary Jean Chan and Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young.

These works of poetry are joined by shortlisted novels by Ocean Vuong and Bryan Washington. The judges have chosen a selection this year that includes not only poetry but also novels and short stories, each shortlisted work tackles the issues of personal and social concerns as well as looking at the dilemmas that we face.

In such a “Dark Time” the judges praised the six young writers for their incredible talent and the way in which they had been able to write about such complex topics.

The Dylan Thomas Prize is now in its 15^th year. The prize is awarded to a writer who is 39 or younger for a literary work written in English, this includes all forms of fiction. Lasts years prize was won by Guy Gunarantne with In Our Mad and Furious City, his debut novel.

This year’s winner will be announced on 14^th May as part of a virtual ceremony that will be held by Swansea University.

Books to Read in Self Isolation

With most of the country in self-isolation, people may find themselves at a bit of a loose end but don’t worry there are lots of list appearing all of the place of books or writers that people may want to try reading to help during this time.

One particular list offers readers a number of Russian writers that they may like to consider, noting that if there was one thing that the big names in Russian writing knew then it is boredom and loneliness. These are the writers that may just help you to feel like you are not on your own and if they don’t then they will at least provide you with a good read.

Alexander Pushkin the author of Eugene Onegin is arguably one of the leading Russian poets spent more of his adult life exiled, he also spent 3 months in quarantine. He wrote on a number of themes and used just about every genre for his work.

Leo, or Lev, Tolstoy is another writer who is well worth taking a look at on the list of Russians to read, as is Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

If Russian writers are not really your thing then don’t worry, there are plenty of lists out there of authors and poets that people are recommending as reading material for during the pandemic. In fact, some acclaimed poets and authors have even put together lists of their own personal recommendations for self-isolation poetry and novels to read.