Jhalak Prize

Jhalak Prize
Awarded forBook of the year by a writer of colour
CountryUnited Kingdom
Reward(s)£1,000
First awarded2017; 7 years ago (2017)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner.

The Jhalak Prize was launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sunny Singh, Nikesh Shukla, and Media Diversified. It is supported by The Authors’ Club and by The Jhalak Foundation,[1] owned by Professor Singh's family. The prize and foundation are named after Professor Singh's grandmother.[2] It is the second literary prize in the UK to only accept entries by writers of colour, following the SI Leeds Literary Prize for BAME women writers, which was first awarded in 2012. In 2016, the Equality and Human Rights Commission praised: "this award is the type of action which the Commission supports and recommends."[3][4] In 2017 the comedian Shappi Khorsandi withdrew her novel from the longlist.[5] Consequentially, the prize was reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.[6] The complaint was not upheld.

In 2020, a sister award, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, was founded.[7]

  1. ^ "JHALAK FOUNDATION overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  2. ^ Culture, OxStu (30 May 2020). "Sunny Singh talks about the turbulent first few years of the Jhalak prize". The Oxford Student. Archived from the original on 19 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  3. ^ Wood, Heloise (30 January 2018). "Independent presses dominate Jhalak Prize longlist". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Jhalak Prize". Media Diversified. 10 September 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  5. ^ Cain, Sian (6 January 2017). "Shappi Khorsandi withdraws book from Jhalak prize longlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Jhalak Prize controversy". State Sponsored Literature. 5 June 2020. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  7. ^ "About the Jhalak Prize". Jhalak Prize. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024.