Diana Evans has won the 2026 Jhalak Prose Prize for I Want to Talk to You. The prize, which celebrates books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland, carries £1,000 and was announced on June 10, 2026.
Diana Evans has won the 2026 Jhalak Prose Prize for I Want to Talk to You, the annual award celebrating books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland.
The prize was announced on June 10, 2026. The Jhalak Prize website lists Evans's book on the 2026 prose shortlist and confirms the category's winner announcement date.
According to The Guardian's report, the judges described I Want to Talk to You as the unanimous choice for the prose prize. Each category winner receives £1,000.
The shortlisted books
The 2026 prose shortlist also included Act Normal by Pete Kalu, Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo, Foreign Fruit by Katie Goh, Hail Mary by Funmi Fetto and The South by Tash Aw.
The Jhalak Prize says its awards are designed to spotlight books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland.
Other 2026 winners
The 2026 Jhalak Children's and Young Adult Prize went to My Name is Samim by Fidan Meikle. The poetry prize went to Maggie Harris for I Sing to the Greenhearts.
Evans, a British novelist and essayist, had already attracted attention for the book before the prize result, with a review earlier in 2025 describing it as a collection of essays and nonfiction.
Revision note
Initial automated publication.