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The longlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced, with a playwright being nominated for the first time.
The prize is open to any writer publishing in English under the age of 30, with novels, poetry and drama all being recognised this year, the seventh in which the prize has been given.
Nine of this year's works are debuts. The winner will receive £30,000 and a bronze bust of Dylan Thomas. Sponsored by the University of Swansea, the shortlist will be announced in the autumn, with the winner announced at a ceremony in Swansea in November.
The judges of this year's prize are Peter Flrorence, Allison Pearson, Cerys Matthews, Carolun Hitt, Kim Howells, Nicholas Wroe, Kurt Heinzelman and Peter Stead.
The chairman, Stead, said: "Every year of the Prize is different from the previous one but this year, the sheer volume of new talent we've discovered leaves me with a feeling that we are going to have an exceptional year. These are books that readers will definitely want to get their hands on."
The full shortlist is:
Prose
How To Be A Good Wife by Emma Chapman (Picador)
The Last King Of Lydia by Tim Leach (Atlantic)
The Gurkha's Daughter by Prajwal Parajuly (Quercus)
Call It Dog by Marli Roode (Atlantic)
Julie Sarkissian Dear Lucy (Hodder & Stoughton)
Beneath The Darkening Sky by Majok Tulba (Oneworld)
Watkins Battleborn by Claire Vaye (Granta)
Ballistics by D.W. Wilson (Hamish Hamilton)
Poetry
Sins Of The Leopard by James Brookes (Salt)
The Shape Of A Forest by Jemma L. King (Parthian)
Our Obsidian Tongues by David Shook (Eyewear)
Drama
No Quarter by Polly Stenham (Faber)