My Name is Samim (Floris Books) was crowned the winner of this year’s Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize at a London ceremony on 10 June. A powerful story of courage, resilience and hope, the book tells the story of 13-year-old Samim as he flees Afghanistan and embarks on a long and perilous journey to safety. My Name is Samim is author Fidan Meikle’s debut middle-grade novel and is inspired by real-life experiences of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK.

On winning the award, Meikle, an Azerbaijani-British writer, linguist and translator, said: ‘Despite the heartbreak, Samim’s story is a story of hope. It is my hope that someday soon we move closer to a world where refugees are not what someone is; refugee is what any of us could become, and every person in this world is entitled to safety.’

My name is Samim was chosen from a shortlist of six titles by a panel of judges made up of authors Sita Brahmachari, Lanisha Butterfield and Christine Pillainayagam. You can read a review of My name is Samim in Books for Keeps.

Meikle is only the sixth winner of the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, which was set up in 2020 to celebrate books for children, teens and young adults written by writers of colour in Britain and Ireland. It is a sister award to the Jhalak Prose Prize – first awarded in 2017 – and the new Jhalak Poetry Prize, which was set up in 2024.

Jhalak Prose Prize Winner

I Want to Talk to You by Diana Evans (Chatto & Windus)

Jhalak Poetry Prize Winner

I Sing to the Greenhearts by Maggie Harris (Seren)