News

See the cover for Vile Lady Villains by Danai Christopoulou

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See the cover for Vile Lady Villains by Danai Christopoulou

Danai Christopoulou is Greek author raised on a diet of myths and tragedies. Their writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for a Best of Small  Fictions and has appeared in Glamour, Marie Claire, khōréō, Fusion Fragment, Flame Tree  Press, and Writer’s Digest.

Their debut book, Vile Lady Villains, is forthcoming on May 12, 2026, from Union Square Press. It is a queer, gothic horrormantasy where Lady Macbeth and Klytemnestra are thrown together after a witch’s potion pulls Lady Macbeth into a strange realm of stories. Hunted across worlds and pursued by supernatural forces, the two infamous killers form a fragile alliance. As their bond deepens, they must decide whether to return to the tragedies that defined them or destroy the stories that bound them.

It is available for preorder now.

Debutiful is excited to reveal the cover, which features art by Andreea Dumuta and design by UNSQ’a Art Director Patrick Sullivan, along with a short essay by Danai Christopoulou about Vile Lady Villains.

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Interviews

Inside The Body Builders: Albertine Clarke on Dreams, Identity, and the Psychology of Writing

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Inside The Body Builders: Albertine Clarke on Dreams, Identity, and the Psychology of Writing

Albertine Clarke’s debut novel, The Body Builders, is a surreal daydream. In it, we look into the protagonist Ada’s subconscious as she struggles to see herself through mirrors, through her own family members, and through the mysterious facility where the middle section of the book takes place. Symbols and dreams are the skeleton of this novel. Together they form an unconscious portrait that considers whether we can ever really know who we are. It is a debut novel from a writer of unparalleled vision into her own unbroken chain of spirit.

Albertine and I sat together in a café in Brooklyn, drinking tea, while an elderly woman loudly played the piano and sang Death Cab for Cutie songs off-key. At times, we misunderstood each other, and at others, we seemed to almost coalesce on an understanding of literature, the dialectic, and why childhood pets die.

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Interviews

Scott Broker on The Disappointment: Grief, Art, and the Brutal Honesty of Love

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Scott Broker on The Disappointment: Grief, Art, and the Brutal Honesty of Love

Life is anticipation.  Are the moments that shape our lives the result of our own actions?  Or are they the culmination of the long-dammed reservoirs of other peoples’ desires:  The delayed dreams of parents.  The yearnful longings of spouses.  The anxiety-fueled goals that drive individual pursuit of fame, fortune, and fulfillment.  Welcome to The Disappointment, Scott Broker’s debut novel, a portrait of a couple navigating the emotional minefields of incapacitating grief amid the burdensome responsibilities (demands?) of love.  Partners for more than a decade, over a weekend trip Jack and Randy confront death, fame, and infidelity, questioning their affection and loyalty for each other while they simultaneously, systematically (and sometimes brutally) deconstruct the choices they’ve made about the trajectory of their relationship and artistic careers.  The interiority of their conflicts is intimately wrought, painful in its delicacy and brazenly, bravely human.  The novel is replete with moments of their tender fondness for each other, but also offers perspective on the complicated, at times horrific, honesty of love from those who supposedly know – and love – us the most.  Scott and I spoke via email.  This interview has been edited and condensed for clarification.

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Interviews, my reading life

Diana Xin discusses the books that shaped her life

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Diana Xin discusses the books that shaped her life

Diana Xin‘s debut short story collection, Book of Exemplary Women, was released late in 2025 and her writing was called “quiet intensity, emotional acuity, and impressive range, as though we are peering into a dozen kitchen windows and catching our neighbors at their most intimate, soul-baring, and true” by Kim Fu.

We asked Xin to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her debut collection.

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News

See the cover for In Latin America You Could Be Free by Yesena Barragan

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See the cover for In Latin America You Could Be Free by Yesena Barragan

Yesena Barragan is a historian of the nineteenth-century Americas and Atlantic and Pacific worlds, focusing on race, slavery, and emancipation. She earned her Ph.D. in Latin American History from Columbia University and is now an Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

In her new book, In Latin America You Could Be Free: An African American History, she explores a forgotten nineteenth-century geography of Black freedom across the Americas. As countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Mexico abolished slavery decades before the United States, Latin America came to occupy a powerful place in abolitionist imagination and strategy.

It will be published by Basic Books on November 10, 2026.

Debuitul is honored to reveal the cover of the book, which was designed by Alex Camlin, along with a Q&A with Barragan about how it was created.

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Interviews

Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

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Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

The Black List recently announced the seven winners of its inaugural Unpublished Novel Award, introducing the world to seven writers across various genres from children’s and young adult fiction to adult crime, horror, and literary fiction.

Debutiful recently chatted with all seven winners and is excited to introduce the world to each writer, discover why and how they write, and learn more about the book that won them the award.

Meet Simon Nagel, winner of the Science Fiction & Fantasy award for his manuscript, Gates To Nowhere. Nagel is a writer of many talents. He has written film and television scripts, published short stories, become a passable poet, written two books, performed a one-man play, and created the world’s first choose-your-own-adventure martial arts saga.

We asked Nagel to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and his Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, Gates To Nowhere.

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Interviews

Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

The Black List recently announced the seven winners of its inaugural Unpublished Novel Award, introducing the world to seven writers across various genres from children’s and young adult fiction to adult crime, horror, and literary fiction.

Debutiful recently chatted with all seven winners and is excited to introduce the world to each writer, discover why and how they write, and learn more about the book that won them the award.

Meet Jessica Ellis, winner of the Romance award for her manuscript, We Meet Again.

We asked Ellis to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and her Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, We Meet Again.

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Interviews

Oliver Munday is a Graphic designer, Creative Director, Fiction Writer, and the Head of Household

by AdamLeave a Comment on Oliver Munday is a Graphic designer, Creative Director, Fiction Writer, and the Head of Household
Oliver Munday is a Graphic designer, Creative Director, Fiction Writer, and the Head of Household

If you don’t know Oliver Munday‘s name, you’ve most certainly seen his work. He designed Colson Whitehead’s cover for The Nickel Boys. Eli Bautman’s The Idiot cover. The Cover for Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom. He’s also the former associate creative director at The Atlantic.

Now, he’s released his debut story collection, Head of Household, which explores the evolving role of fatherhood in contemporary life. Many a book about motherhood recently has become Debutiful favorites (The School for Good Mothers, The Nursery, Nightbitch), but this is the first book about fatherhood to catapult into the pantheon of must-read debuts. Munday’s grasp on character, emotion, and scene will extend to the reader. He’ll hold you tight as you navigate the lives of these fathers.

We chatted with Munday via email to learn about his journey to becoming a writer, why he wanted to write about fatherhood, and what it was like to have a book cover designed for him instead of by him.

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