Tishani Doshi's 'Egrets, While War' Nominated for 2026 PEN Heaney Prize

Tishani Doshi's poetry collection, Egrets, While War, has been shortlisted for the 2026 PEN Heaney Prize. Established in 2024, this prize honors a single volume of poetry by a single author published in the UK or Ireland that demonstrates outstanding literary merit while engaging with cultural or political events impacting human conditions or relationships. Both original English collections and those translated into English are eligible.

The jury for this year includes poets Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Vona Groarke, and Stephen Sexton. The jury praised Doshi's work, stating, "Tishani Doshi’s dextrous, vibrant and vital poems delight and shimmer. Across Egrets, While War, the range of her subjects is vast: the ancient and modern co-mingle with poems of personal and civic responsibility. Throughout, an aviary of sonnets addresses the birds of mythology and literature with grace and invention. Wars, historical and contemporary, provide the contexts for these powerful poems of resistance and humanity."

The winner of the PEN Heaney Prize will be announced on December 1. Other books on the shortlist include:

- Pain Songs by Daniel Sluman (Nine Arches Press)

- Dwelling by Máighréad Medbh (Macha Press)

- Mer de Glace by Małgorzata Lebda, translated by Mira Rosenthal (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

- Plastic by Matthew Rice (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

- October by Nur Turkmani (Hajar Press)

- Egrets, While War by Tishani Doshi (Bloodaxe Press)