Michael Magee's debut novel longlisted for The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize has just announced the international longlist for this year’s ceremony. It is one of the most prestigious literary awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent and literary excellence.

Comprising seven novels, three short story collections and two poetry collections, this year’s longlist spans continents and time periods to explore themes of adversity, identity, home and love.

Included in the longlist is Michael Magee for his highly-acclaimed debut novel Close to Home, situated in the author’s native west Belfast.

Set in 2013, after the financial crash, the novel centres on Sean Maguire, a young working-class man wrestling with masculinity and lack of opportunity. The trauma and violence of the previous century continues to cast a shadow over Belfast's streets and its peoples' consciences. Uncertain of the future, Close to Home is a sharp and revealing novel about a young man, and a city, caught in the painful throes of reimagining itself.

Michael Magee. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

In an interview for Hotpress last May, Magee spoke with Paul Nolan about his west Belfast upbringing which laid the novel’s foundations: "For young men where I grew up, being hard or tough was capital. That was the way social groups were organised.

"You had those at the top of the food chain, and those at the bottom, and people dominated others through the threat of violence as much as anything."

Since its publication last April, Close to Home was shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2023, won the 2023 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and is now longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize.

The Dylan Thomas Prize longlist comprises 12 authors, including Michael Magee, hailing from the UK, Nigeria, Trinidad & Tobago, US, Canada, and Hong Kong:

• A Spell of Good Things by Ayòbámi Adébáyò (Canongate Books) – novel (Nigeria)
• Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking, Penguin Random House UK) – novel (UK/Ghana)
• The Glutton by A. K. Blakemore (Granta) – novel (England, UK)
• Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan (Faber & Faber) – poetry collection (Hong Kong)
• Penance by Eliza Clark (Faber & Faber) – novel (England, UK)
• The Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova (Atlantic Books) – short story collection (Canada)
• Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein (Bloomsbury Publishing UK/Ecco, HarperCollins US) – novel (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Local Fires by Joshua Jones (Parthian Books) – short story collection (Wales, UK)
• Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (Granta) – novel (US)
• Close to Home by Michael Magee (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK) – novel (Northern Ireland, UK)
• Open Up by Thomas Morris (Faber & Faber) – short story collection (Wales, UK)
• Divisible by Itself and One by Kae Tempest (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – poetry collection (England, UK)

With a remuneration of £20,000 for shortlisted authors, the Dylan Thomas Prize recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under and celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The accolade invokes the memory of Dylan Thomas, the renowned Welsh poet, to support the new generation of literary excellence.

Previous winners include Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Guy Gunaratne, and Kayo Chingonyi.

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist will be announced on Thursday 21 March, followed by the Winner’s Ceremony in Swansea on Thursday 16 May 2024.