The three shortlists for the 2025 Jhalak Prizes, including the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize have been announced. First awarded in 2017, the Jhalak Prize was set up to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. Its sister award for children’s and YA books was founded in 2020 and a new Jhalak Poetry Prize was added in 2024.

This year’s shortlist for the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize was selected by a panel of judges made up of last year’s winner Hiba Noor Khan, writer and social advocate Yassmin Abdel-Magied, and science teacher and author Alom Shaha.

While the award is open to books from across all genres and for all ages, this year’s shortlist is dominated by fiction titles for readers aged 9+, with just one picture book making it through to the final six.

Commenting on this year’s awards, prize director Sunny Singh said: “The authors on our 2025 shortlists do not flinch from harsh realities of our histories, times and lives. Yet each of these books is an exquisitely crafted, stunning work of literature that is full of love, hope and joy.”

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors!

The Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize Shortlist 2025:

Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari (Walker Books)

Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield, illustrated by Hoang Giang (Puffin)

King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books)

Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe (Usborne Publishing)

The Thread that Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud (Usborne Publishing)

The winners of all three prizes will be announced on June 4th at a free online event hosted at the British Library. Each will be presented with a unique work of art created by an artist of colour as part of the annual Jhalak Art Residency.