American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney has won the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – the £20,000 Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize – for her debut collection Joy Is My Middle Name.

Joy Is My Middle Name documents the journey of crawling through your twenties and emerging into your thirties, navigating sex, race, womanhood, addiction, sobriety, consumerism and pop culture.

The judging panel praised the "energising, exuberant and robust" collection. Irenosen Okojie, chair of judges, said: “Incredible. An exuberant, blistering collection full of life, humour and ideas. 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.”

Sasha Debevec-McKenney, aged 35, was awarded the prize, which celebrates exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, at a ceremony in Swansea University’s Great Hall, marking International Dylan Thomas Day. Joy Is My Middle Name is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. The prize invokes Thomas’ memory to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories, and drama.

The other titles shortlisted for the 2026 prize were: To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong (Les Fugitives); We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Chatto & Windus, Vintage); Under the Blue by Suzannah V Evans (Bloomsbury Poetry); Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape, Vintage); Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu (Canongate)