SWANSEA: American poet wins £20,000 Dylan Thomas Prize with debut collection described as ‘an antidote to our tricky times’

An American poet has won the world’s largest literary prize for young writers, taking home £20,000 at a ceremony at Swansea University on International Dylan Thomas Day.

Sasha Debevec-McKenney, 35, was announced as the winner of the 2026 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for Joy Is My Middle Name, her debut poetry collection published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in July 2025. The judges reached a unanimous decision.

The collection navigates sex, race, womanhood, addiction, sobriety, consumerism and pop culture — charting what the author describes as the journey of crawling through your twenties and emerging into your thirties.

Irenosen Okojie, chair of judges, said the panel was unanimous in its enthusiasm for the book.

“Incredible. An exuberant, blistering collection full of life, humour and ideas,” she said. “Debevec-McKenney is a ferociously gifted talent. The book is remarkable in the way it galvanises the reader with a sense of intimacy that is authentic and a voice that feels like an antidote to our tricky times.”

The judges praised Debevec-McKenney for condensing huge ideas into something that is “truly a joy to read” — describing the collection as energising, exuberant and robust.

Debevec-McKenney said the win felt completely unbelievable.

“I really love writing poems, it makes life worth living,” she said. “Every emotion I’ve ever had, there’s a poem for it. To get this prize feels completely unbelievable. I’m really honoured.”

International Dylan Thomas Day is observed on 14 May each year — the anniversary of the first public reading of his radio play Under Milk Wood, which took place in New York in 1953. Literature Wales organises events to mark the day, funded by the Welsh Government in consultation with the Thomas family and Dylan Thomas estate. The prize ceremony at Swansea University’s Great Hall has become one of the centrepieces of the annual celebration.

The prize is limited to writers aged 39 or under — a deliberate echo of Thomas’s own lifespan. Thomas achieved all of his celebrated work before his death at the age of 39 in 1953. Previous winners of the prize include Patricia Lockwood, Raven Leilani, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Max Porter — names who have since become significant figures in contemporary literature.

The prize is named after Swansea’s most celebrated poet and writer, and invokes his 39 years of creativity and productivity. It aims to support the writers of today and nurture the talents of tomorrow in his memory.

The six other shortlisted titles were To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown, Under the Blue by Suzannah V. Evans, Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt, and Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu.

The six shortlisted authors appeared together the evening before the winner announcement at a celebration event at the British Library in London, before travelling to Swansea for the ceremony. The event was opened by Dr Elaine Canning, Director of the Dylan Thomas Prize, and featured a live performance by Côr Y Boro — Borough Welsh Choir.

Previous winners of the prize have included writers who have gone on to significant international recognition, making it one of the most coveted early-career accolades in world literature.

Joy Is My Middle Name is available now through Fitzcarraldo Editions and major booksellers.

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Catherine Zeta-Jones joins Anthony Hopkins in new Dylan Thomas film — shot in Wales

Two of Wales’s most celebrated actors are reuniting on screen – Catherine Zeta-Jones has joined Sir Anthony Hopkins in a new film adaptation of a Dylan Thomas short story, with filming already underway in Wales.

A Visit to Grandpa’s follows a young boy sent to spend a summer with his charismatic and wildly eccentric grandfather on a remote Welsh farm.

Expecting dull days and strict rules, the boy instead finds himself drawn into a world of storytelling, imagination and mischief.

New first-look images show Zeta-Jones as an as-yet unnamed character – pictured behind a bar in period costume – while Sir Anthony appears as the grandfather, a white-bearded figure with a walking stick in an outdoor rural setting.

The film is directed by DJ Caruso, whose previous credits include Disturbia and Mary. The script was written by Ken Aguado, and filming began on 7 April in Wales.

Hundreds of people gathered in Dolgellau, Gwynedd, earlier this month to watch production in progress.

The cast also includes Aneurin Barnard, known to Welsh audiences for his role in Dunkirk, alongside Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Geraldine James and Aimee-Ffion Edwards, who starred in Slow Horses.

Speaking to Deadline, Sir Anthony said: “This is a powerful and profoundly beautiful story, one that allows me to return to my Welsh roots while exploring the remarkable vision and prose of Dylan Thomas.”

Director Caruso called it one of the great honours of his career to bring the story to screen alongside Sir Anthony.

The short story the film is based on – first published in 1938 – tells of a young boy visiting his grandfather in the Carmarthenshire countryside.

Expecting to be bored, the boy instead becomes fascinated by the old man’s eccentricities – including the moment the whole village grows concerned about the grandfather heading to Llanstephan “with his waistcoat on.”

The story appeared in Thomas’s celebrated 1940 collection Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.

Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914 and is arguably Wales’s most celebrated writer and poet. His best-known works include Under Milk Wood and Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night. He died in New York in 1953 aged 39.

His influence stretches far beyond Wales – singer-songwriter Bob Dylan took his stage name from Thomas, former US president Jimmy Carter had a lifelong passion for his work, and Taylor Swift name-dropped the poet on her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.

The film is set to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival later this year.

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Another major Welsh star making headlines this weekend.

I didn't get many pictures as I was stewarding the amazing Together March today, but did like these

#TogetherMarch #TogetherAgainstTheFarRight #Tolkien #LordOfTheRings #DylanThomas

The hand decides.
The world absorbs.
— Animo ✨

https://www.animoreflectiveintelligence.com

#iran #war #lebanon #dylanthomas #globalsouth

A Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood" is an album by the English pianist Stan Tracey and his quartet, that was released by the Columbia subsidiary of EMI in 1965. The music was written in response to the 1953 BBC radio play Under Milk Wood, by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. It has often been cited as one of the best jazz recordings made in the United Kingdom.

In a series of articles for The Guardian newspaper titled "50 great moments in jazz", John Fordham wrote of the album: "Under Milk Wood was an evocative collection of sparky themes inspired by the Dylan Thomas radio play (it's sometimes performed with a narrator reading the parts). And thanks to Tracey's sparing piano and Wellins's softly hooting sax, the rippling tone-poem 'Starless and Bible Black' is widely acclaimed as one of the great jazz performances". - Wikipedia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd-aDGOSC3o&list=RDFd-aDGOSC3o&start_radio=1

#StanTracey #BobbyWellins #JeffClyne #DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood #BritJazz #Jazz #Music

The Jama: Alister Johnson x Dylan Thomas x John Kong @ Jama - 13 Mar feat. Alister Johnson, Dylan-Thomas, John Kong

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https://sesh.sx/e/1779518