#JhalakPrize25
LightNews LightNews
profsunnysingh.bsky.social
Coming up NEXT WEEK and ONLINE on June 17, this superb event at @brightbookfest with our 2025 winners and chaired by our director @ProfSunnySingh. Book ASAP: brightonbookfestival.co.uk/products/jhala…#jhalakprize252#jhalakprizeze
https://brightonbookfestival.co.uk/products/jhala…
June 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
nationalbooktokens.bsky.social
Your #JhalakPrize25 winners are here 🙌🏾 🎉

Namesake: Reflections on a Warrior Woman, King of Nothing and Collected Poems are each luminous, immersive, vital books 👏🏿📚

Congratulations, N.S. Nuseibeh, Nathanael Lessore & Mimi Khalvati!

Find out more:
buff.ly/1xB5HQA
A blue background with the three winning titles of the Jhalak Prize 2025: Namesake: Reflection on a Warrior Woman, King of Nothing and Collected Poems. Text reads: Jhalak Prize 2025 Winners! In partnership with National Book Tokens.
June 4, 2025 at 7:01 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
BUY the brave, monumental, Biblical in scale and scope, #Adam by Gboyega Odubanjo, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize.

uk.bookshop.org/p/books/adam...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
uk.bookshop.org
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
WATCH: A reading by the late Gboyega Odubanjo. His debut collection #Adam is shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize

youtu.be/nUN4zte7I2I

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
A reading by late Gboyega Odubanjo from Adam, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize
YouTube video by Jhalak Prize
youtu.be
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
DONATE: Gboyega Odubanjo's family have a fundraiser to continue his incredible legacy by supporting low-income Black writers. As we honour his powerful #Adam, shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize, we request you consider contributing to this:

www.gofundme.com/f/gboyega-od...

#JhalakPrize25
Donate to Gboyega Odubanjo – beloved son, brother, friend, organized by Rose Odubanjo
Loved by many and widely recognised as a voice of his generation, 27-yea… Rose Odubanjo needs your support for Gboyega Odubanjo – beloved son, brother, friend
www.gofundme.com
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
WATCH this powerful clip from his publishers,
@faberbooks.bsky.social where late Gboyega Odubanjo speaks about his extraordinary poetry collection #Adam, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize.

x.com/i/status/180...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
Faber Books on X: "We are proud today to be publishing Gboyega Odubanjo's remarkable debut collection, Adam. Film visuals by Kareem Parkins-Brown, sound by Rei Sky. https://t.co/gshJgHvXcb https://t.co/wJ3hszhK9e" / X
We are proud today to be publishing Gboyega Odubanjo's remarkable debut collection, Adam. Film visuals by Kareem Parkins-Brown, sound by Rei Sky. https://t.co/gshJgHvXcb https://t.co/wJ3hszhK9e
x.com
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
REVIEW at @theguardian.com of Gboyega Odubanjo's #Adam, shortlisted for Jhalak Poetry Prize: ‘...a collection filled with unexpected leaps of imagination.’

www.theguardian.com/books/articl...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Adam by Gboyega Odubanjo review – in memory of the missing
Inspired by an unidentified boy found dead in the Thames, the first – and only – collection by the late poet is an imaginative meditation on death and those who disappear
www.theguardian.com
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Judge Malika Booker sees 'A tender yet ambitious poetic that is both proverbial and praise song ... and elegiac lyricism.'

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
The #JhalakPrize25 Awards are this evening and we have just enough time to feature the late shortlisted poet Gboyega Odubanjo's #Adam @faberbooks.bsky.social. This is especially poignant for us. Gboyega worked with IS&T on 'Runaways London' as a poet and as an editor on 'Uprising & Resistance'.
Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background. Image of cover for 'Adam' with poet's name, Gboyega Odubanjo. Text: 2025 Shortlisted Jhalak Poetry Prize in partnership with National Book Tokens (includes logo) Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background. Image of cover for 'Adam' with poet's name, Gboyega Odubanjo. Text: 'A tender yet ambitious poetic that is both proverbial and praise song ... and elegiac lyricism.' Malika Booker, judge 2025 Shortlisted Jhalak Poetry Prize in partnership with National Book Tokens (includes logo)
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
SEE: Tonight (3rd June), @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social‬ with fellow Poetry Prize shortlistee Amaan Hyder and others from the Prose and C&YA Awards. Some tickets still available

www.waterstones.com/events/gower...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Gower St Presents: Jhalak Prize 2025 | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Gower St Presents: Jhalak Prize 2025 today.
www.waterstones.com
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
BUY @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social's riotous, hilarious, subversive verse novel #TopDoll.

uk.bookshop.org/p/books/top-...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
TOP DOLL: Shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot 2024 a book by Karen McCarthy Woolf and Priscilla Layne.
'Extraordinarily inventive, witty, moving and profound.' Bernardine Evaristo'If you read one novel this year, let it be Top Doll. This is innovative, exquisitely crafted storytelling at its finest.' M...
uk.bookshop.org
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
WATCH: A reading by @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social from her wild, weird and wonderful verse novel #TopDoll.

youtu.be/1p1yOb4BL7U

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Karen McCarthy Woolf reads from Top Doll, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize
YouTube video by Jhalak Prize
youtu.be
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
REVIEW at @telegraphnews.bsky.social of @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social's riotous, subversive #TopDoll, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize: ‘a strange picaresque...I’ve not read anything quite like it.’

www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Loved Barbie? Try this mad novel about a millionaire’s drug-addicted dolls
Karen McCarthy Woolf imagines what went on in the plastic heads of a 104-year-old heiress’s toys in Top Doll, a weird and wild verse novel
www.telegraph.co.uk
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Fascinating INSIGHT at
@poetryschool.bsky.social by @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social about her brilliant verse novel #TopDoll, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize:

poetryschool.com/theblog/kare...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Karen McCarthy Woolf – T.S. Eliot Writers' Notes • Poetry School
Karen McCarthy Woolf talks about how she wrote her recent T.S. Eliot Prize shortlisted prose novel 'Top Doll'.
poetryschool.com
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
REVIEW at DURA of @karenmccarthywoolf.bsky.social's verse novel, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize: #TopDoll is ‘...a blast, being outrageously, subversively, laugh-aloud funny.’

dura-dundee.org.uk/2024/12/21/t...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
Top Doll
Karen McCarthy Woolf(Dialogue Books, 2024); hbk, £20      Infinity is an episode long     and troubling to decipher [,]                                          Dolly How might a writer work…
dura-dundee.org.uk
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
BUY #BoiledOwls by Azad Ashim Sharma, shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize.

uk.bookshop.org/p/books/boil...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
Boiled Owls a book by Azad Ashim Sharma.
In Boiled Owls, Azad Ashim Sharma delves into the kaleidoscopic terrain of cocaine addiction to explore the strain it puts on his speaker's interior, as well as family and those in close proximity. Wi...
uk.bookshop.org
June 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
WATCH: a reading by Azad Ashim Sharma from his compelling, audacious #BoiledOwls.

youtu.be/Ko0GsIERM3g

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Azad Ashim Sharma reads from Boiled Owls, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize
YouTube video by Jhalak Prize
youtu.be
June 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
READ an extract at @poetrydaily.bsky.social from Azad Ashim Sharma's dazzling poetry collection #BoiledOwls, shortlisted for Jhalak Poetry Prize

poems.com/poem/planeta...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Planetary Death Is a Hopeless Drug Addict
I'm sick of fighting currents, toxic with our need of currency and our hope for revolution.
poems.com
June 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Fascinating INTERVIEW at @therumpus.net with Azad Ashim Sharma about #BoiledOwls, shortlisted for Jhalak Poetry Prize, narco-poetics and poetics as transformative practice.

therumpus.net/2024/08/21/a...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
Narco-poetics and the Voice of Recovery: A Conversation with Azad Ashim Sharma - The Rumpus
Hope stems in the imagination, in our capacity to re-imagine how life on this finite planet could coexist with non-human life and the cycles of shift that give us a cool summer breeze and the hurrican...
therumpus.net
June 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
REVIEW at Heavy Feather Review / @hfr.bsky.social: Azad Ashim Sharma's #BoiledOwls ‘offers a corporeal freshness that is enchanting and evocative...’

heavyfeatherreview.org/2024/11/14/b...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Poetry Review: Rina Shamilov Reads Azad Ashim Sharma’s Collection Boiled Owls
The tenderness of Boiled Owls allows for an exchange of lamentation and suffering (albeit of a different kind) between the poem’s speaker and those he loves. The poems revive memory and depic…
heavyfeatherreview.org
June 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
BUY @rushikawick.bsky.social's #Horse from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social!

www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...

#JhalakPrize25 #JhalakShowcase
Rushika Wick - Horse | Broken Sleep Books
Horse is a science fiction hybrid book exploring ecological trajectories and the role of participation and witness. Fragments from culture and communications in the 21st century are being examined by ...
www.brokensleepbooks.com
June 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
WATCH: A reading by @rushikawick.bsky.social from her powerful, essential #Horse.

youtu.be/lIRU37e6h2Y

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Rushika Wick reads from Horse, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize
YouTube video by Jhalak Prize
youtu.be
June 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
READ: A fascinating interview at @vervepoetrypress.bsky.social with @rushikawick.bsky.social whose brilliant #Horse is shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize:

vervepoetrypress.com/2021/09/15/i...

#JhalakShowcase #JhalakPrize25
In Conversation with Rushika Wick
This month, we caught up with Rushika Wick. After a stellar poetry year and the release of her collection Afterlife As Trash, she reflects on the how and why of her work as well as its brilliant recep...
vervepoetrypress.com
June 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
REVIEW at Serendip Studio of @rushikawick.bsky.social's superb poetry collection, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Poetry Prize: "#Horse will serve as a mirror for humanity and more..."

serendipstudio.org/oneworld/con...

#JhalakPrizeShowcase #JhalakPrize25
Reading Horse: Thoughts on the Digital Humanities in Rushika Wick's Newest Book
Horse is only one letter different from house. A horse is ours and hours where a house is only yours or belonging to you all. It is not only the size, but the material requirements that make horses so...
serendipstudio.org
June 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
The third poet shortlisted for the #JhalakPrize25 Poetry Prize that we are featuring is @rushikawick.bsky.social and her fine collection #Horse @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social. Judge @jallenpaisant.bsky.social finds 'A work whose formal ambition and daring imprints itself on memory.'

#JhalakPrize25
Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background. Image of cover for 'Horse' with poet's name, Rushika Wick. Text: 2025 Shortlisted Jhalak Poetry Prize in partnership with National Book Tokens (includes logo) Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background. Image of cover for 'Horse' with poet's name, Rushika Wick. Text: 'A work whose formal ambition and daring imprints itself on memory.' Jason Allen-Paisant, judge 2025 Shortlisted Jhalak Poetry Prize in partnership with National Book Tokens (includes logo)
June 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM