From tales of first love to hedonistic holidays, the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize shortlist reveals six new voices in fiction, including a first-ever nomination for a translated novel
The 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize shortlist has finally been announced and it features novels spanning across a vast range of topics and genres. Currently in its fourth year, the Debut Fiction Prize is voted for by Waterstones booksellers, with the honour being awarded to exceptional debut novels and highlights the value of discovering and championing new talent.
Serving as an extension to booksellers’ word-of-mouth recommendations, the award celebrates fiction in all its forms. Six debut novels and their authors have been shortlisted this year, including a first-ever nomination for a translated book.
From rural Ireland to the Provençal countryside, straight into the heart of London and New York’s metropolis via a holy Indian river and then through a Swedish cabin — this year’s shortlist takes readers to lands far and beyond.
Waterstones Head of Books, Bea Carvalho, said in a statement: “We are delighted to present six astonishingly impressive and inspiring new voices as this year’s nominees.
“Our shortlist tackles weighty themes and has a lot of fun along the way, celebrating art and transgression, first love and hedonistic summer holidays, and the joy of chosen family. We love these books and look forward to championing these six writers for a long time to come.”
After being announced as last year’s winner, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon quickly soared up the bestseller charts and provided Ferdia with a much larger platform — leading to several accolades and further recognition for the debut author. Ferdia went on to get nominated for many major prizes including the Waterstones Book of the Year, the BAMB Fiction award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Nero Book Awards.
Before Ferdia Lennon’s 2024 win, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize was awarded to Alice Winn in 2023 for her novel In Memoriam and to Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch in 2022. Tess’ novel also went on to win the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction, while Tess bagged the Indiana Authors Awards in 2024.
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025 Shortlist
Confessions by Catherine Airey
Mining girlhood, womanhood and the delicate spot in between with elegance and urgency, Airey’s striking debut follows a teenager orphaned by the 9/11 attack as she comes in contact with her estranged family in small town Ireland.
Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
Provocative, funny and mercilessly observant, Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin’s striking debut novel mines the complexities of familial love and grief through richly layered characters who wrestle with questions of faith and belonging in present-day Ireland.
Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter
Sensual yet searing, Hunter’s acutely observed novel mines themes of race, status and identity, as a working-class Black man attempts to navigate the opulent world of a wealthy family.
Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal
Blending political satire with ecological parable, Gurnaik Johal’s bold, capacious debut finds the lives of seven individuals transformed, as an ancient sacred river springs back to life in a rapidly changing contemporary India.
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies
A bestselling sensation in Ridzén’s native Sweden, When the Cranes Fly South is a beautifully bittersweet novel about an ageing man desperate to mend his relationship with his son before it’s too late.
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
Richly evocative of a Provencal summer, Steeds’ masterly 1920s-set character study focuses on an enigmatic painter, the young British journalist set on penning a piece on him and the artist’s unworldly niece – who harbours an unexpected secret.
The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025 winner will be announced on Thursday, July 24.