The newly unveiled shortlist for the Dylan Thomas prize reveals five young writers all a little closer to picking up the impressive £30,000 cheque. Every literary prize has some sort of angle. The Dylan Thomas's is youth and is open to published or produced work in English written by an author between 18 and 30 from anywhere in the world. (Contrary to popular belief, it has never been a prize for just Welsh writing).
Thomas himself was dead at 39, but by then already had well over two decades of productive activity behind him. All the writers on the shortlist, whittled down by myself and fellow judges including Catatonia singer and now BBC 6 Music presenter Cerys Matthews and chaired by Hay festival supremo Peter Florence, display equal precocity: Tom Benn (24) and his 1990s Manchester badlands novel, The Doll Princess; Andrea Eames (26) with her second novel set in Zimbabwe, The White Shadow; the youngest on the list is 21-year-old Chibundu Onuzo and her Nigerian Romeo and Juliet, The Spider King's Daughter; at a venerable 28, Maggie Shipstead is the oldest with her story of New England WASPish tensions, Seating Arrangements; Canadian DW Wilson (27) completes the shortlist with a collection of muscular short stories, Once You Break a Knuckle.
I know all judges say this, but it really is a notably strong list. And as judges also always say, there are difficult decisions ahead. But in fact those decisions have been made easier in one important way, and simultaneously made more difficult by that youthful angle to the prize itself.
First the easier part: Judges always complain about having to compare apples to oranges. As with the Costa and the Guardian's own first book award, pitting biographies against novels against childrens' books against poetry etc presents all sorts of problems. But while the Dylan Thomas is a competition open to film scripts, plays and poetry as well as fiction, this year only novels and short stories even made it to the longlist stage (chosen by a panel of readers, not the final judging panel). A Dylan Thomas prize list without a book of poetry? Makes life slightly more straightforward for a judge, but does it also say something about the judging process? Or about the wider state of poetry?
And then there is the question of youthfulness. In a prize for writers under 30, are you looking for promise, or for simply the "best book"? While these writers are all young, they are also relatively well established. Among them are alumni of the legendary Iowa Writers' Workshop as well as the prestigious University of East Anglia creative writing course. They have been signed by some of the most blue-chip of publishers. DW Wilson won the 2011 BBC National Short Story Award and Andrea Eames's third novel will be published soon. So if they are good enough, they are old enough and should be judged accordingly? Agreed. But should the most attractive aspects of the best young writing – energy, freshness, immediacy etc – be rewarded or simply regarded as givens?
How much value should be placed on technical accomplishment? Or on authority? Or …? You get the gist.
Yes, yes. I signed up to judge this prize and will therefore have to find a way through it all myself. But if you are moved to make any observations or suggestions, please do so. All help gratefully received before the final judging session in Swansea, Thomas's birthplace, on the afternoon of 9 November. The prize will be awarded that evening which, cheerily for a celebration of youthful achievement, also just happens to be the date of Thomas's death.
