Vanessa Santos nominated for Dylan Thomas Prize

Vanessa Santos' seriously spooky short story collection, MAKE A HOME OF ME is officially on the longlist for the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize! 

MASSIVE congratulations to Vanessa, whose debut novel, IN YOUR HEART A DEVIL will be publishing later this year in October -- a gothic tale about love and lonely castles, inspired by Scottish folklore. 

The longlist also includes: 

To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong (Les Fugitives)
Chaotic Good by Isabelle Baafi (Faber)
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Chatto & Windus, Vintage)
Joy Is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Under the Blue by Suzannah V. Evans (Bloomsbury Poetry)
Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape [Vintage, Penguin Random House])
What Remains After a Fire by Kanza Javed (W.W. Norton & Company)
The Tiny Things Are Heavier by Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo (Manilla Press [Bonnier Books UK]) 
Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu (Canongate) 
Absence by Issa Quincy (Granta)
Gunk by Saba Sams (Bloomsbury Circus)