After much deliberation, the judges are proud to announce the SI Leeds Literary Prize Longlist for 2018.
The longlisted manuscripts are:
BABA JI ON BOULTON ROAD – Kavita Bhanot
A SCATTERING OF BLUE MOONS – Lynne E Blackwood
SISTERHOOD OF SWANS – Selma Carvalho
LET US LOOK ELSEWHERE – Mona Dash
HIBISCUS, ROSE, JACARANDA – Omega Douglas
LYING PERFECTLY STILL – Laura Fish
MANUAL FOR A DECENT LIFE – Kavita A Jindal
THE HYMN OF LEI FENG – Wenyan Lu
WOLNAM – Yoanna Pak
KOLOLO HILL – Neema Shah
ONE MAN’S REVOLUTION – Yvonne Singh
SAY GOODBYE TO HER – Shereen Tadros
Judges will now begin the difficult process of choosing the shortlist from these brilliant authors. The judging panel is chaired by Professor Susheila Nasta MBE, founder and editor-in-chief of Wasafiri magazine and the co-editor of the first Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing. Fellow judges are literary activist, poet and SABLE LitMag editor, Kadija George, Dialogue books publisher and former literary editor of ELLE, Sharmaine Lovegrove and SI Leeds Prize 2016 alumni and writer Winnie M Li, whose Dark Chapter won the 2017 Not The Booker Prize.
Prize Director, Fiona Goh said: “I observed this year’s longlisting meeting and it was fascinating to hear the debates about this year’s entries, which had clearly made such a strong impression on our judging panel. Our 2014 winning entry, The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahsuda Snaith, is just about to come out in paperback and we’re awaiting the publication of the debut novel of our 2016 winner, Amita Murray, from Harper Collins next year. We’re confident that we’re going to have a really distinctive and accomplished winner again in October, and just delighted that Prize alumni continue to go from strength to strength.”
