Two UEA alumni have been longlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize, an award that seeks to celebrate writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. Amaan Hyder, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) in 2006, is nominated for Self-Portrait with Family; and Gboyega Odubanjo, who graduated with a BA in English and Philosophy in 2017 and from the MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) in 2018, is nominated for Adam in the Poetry Category.
Amaan is the author of the poetry collections At Hajj, published by Penned in the Margins in 2017, and Self-Portrait with Family, published by Nine Arches Press in 2024. His poetry has appeared in a range of publications including The Guardian, Poetry Review and Poetry London. He is a Ledbury Poetry Critic and has reviewed for the TLS, Poetry Birmingham and the Poetry School. His poem ‘duas’ won a Clore Prize in 2019, and his short story ‘Postpositions’ was shortlisted in the 4thWrite Short Story Prize 2021. He is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the English Department at Royal Holloway, University of London
Gboyega (1996-2023) was the author of three poetry pamphlets: While I Yet Live (Bad Betty Press, 2019), Two stops short of Barking (The Alternative School of Economics, 2021), and Aunty Uncle Poems (The Poetry Business 2021), which won of the New Poets Prize, the Michael Marks Poetry Award and an Eric Gregory Award. Adam, published posthumously by Faber in 2024, is his debut poetry collection. A Barbican Young Poet alumnus, Odubanjo was an editor at Bath Mag journal and Bad Betty Press, co-chair of Magma and a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, after which he later became a Roundhouse Resident Artist. He was a creative writing tutor on the Creative Future IMPART programme, supporting writers from underrepresented backgrounds. The Gboyega Odubanjo Foundation for low-income Black writers was established in 2023 to honour his legacy.
