12th June, 2026

Maggie Harris wins Jhalak Poetry Prize

Earlier this week, the winners of the 2026 Jhalak Prize Awards were announced, in which Maggie Harris was named winner of the Jhalak Poetry Prize for her collection I Sing to the Greenhearts.

Celebrating books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland, the Jhalak Prize Awards celebrated their 10th anniversary at the ceremony which was held at the Hachette UK Headquarters. Maggie is only the second winner of the Jhalak Poetry Prize which was added in 2024. This year’s judges for the poetry prize were Romalyn Ante, Nikita Gill and Kadija (George) Sesay.

Of Maggie’s collection, Nikita Gill said: “Maggie Harris uses her powerful skills of reflection, craft and cadence to give us one of the most incisive, magical poetry collections of the decade.”

Seren Books poetry co-editors Zoë Brigley and Rhian Edwards add: “This vivid, powerful collection deserves this recognition. Where else but in Maggie Harris’ poems will we find a banana reading Louise Bennett’s ‘Colonisation in Reverse,’ or see Fanny Eaton, the Pre-Raphaelite Jamaican muse, step out of a painting and into her own power? We’re proud to have published it and of Maggie’s connection to Wales.” 

I Sing to the Greenhearts is available in bookshops nationwide and here on our website.