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Palestinian writer's debut wins Dylan Thomas prize

Antonia Matthews
BBC News
Willy Somma Yasmin poses in sleeveless black high-neck top. She has long black hair worn up and a fringe and dark eyes.Willy Somma
Yasmin Zaher was born in Jerusalem

A Palestinian novelist has won this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas literary prize for young writers.

Yasmin Zaher was awarded £20,000 for her debut novel The Coin, which was described by the judging panel as "borderless".

The prize, named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas, who died aged 39, celebrates writers up to that age to honour the author's life and work.

The Coin, the story of a wealthy Palestinian woman who struggles to thrive in America, tackles trauma and grief "with bold and poetic moments of quirkiness and humour," the judging panel said.

Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize/Footnote Press Book jacket for The Coin in yellow with title and author and photo of a woman in heels with one leg high and arm in the air wearing heels and a beige long belted coat. To the right of the image is the announcement that the book is on the 2025 shortlist for the Dylan Thomas prizeSwansea University Dylan Thomas Prize/Footnote Press
The Coin's narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman whose homeland exists only in her memory

Ms Zaher, who was born in Jerusalem in 1991, received the prize at a ceremony in Swansea on Thursday evening.

"Whittling our exceptional longlist of twelve down to six brilliant books, and then again to just one, was not an easy exercise - yet the judging panel was unanimous in their decision to name debut novelist Yasmin Zaher as the winner," said Namita Gokhale, chair of 2025 judges.

"Zaher brings complexity and intensity to the page through her elegantly concise writing," she added.

The full shortlist for the 2025 prize was:

  • Rapture's Road by Seán Hewitt - poetry collection (UK/Ireland)
  • Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon - novel (Ireland)
  • The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden - novel (The Netherlands)
  • I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson - novel (UK)
  • Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams - short story collection (UK)