In their debut novel, The Body Riddle, Sam K MacKinnon introduces readers to Lex, who finally receives top surgery, but nothing that comes after is what they imagined. Their partner finds a new flame, well within the boundaries of their non-monogamous relationship’s rules, but Lex starts to spiral. That is, until they meet a nonbinary coworker who helps Lex discover something new about themself. What follows is a meditation on queerness, the body, and belonging.
The Body Riddle will be published on May 19, 2026, by House of Anasi Press and is available for preorder now.
MacKinnon was previously nominated John Hirsch Emerging Manitoba Writer Award and has had their writing appear in Catapult, Prairie Fire, CBC, them., and elsewhere.
Debutiful is honored to reveal The Body Riddle‘s cover, designed by Alysia Sewchuk, along with a Q&A with MacKinnon about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
I tried not to think about anything but the manuscript while writing the book. It wasn’t until I was offered a contract that I allowed myself to dream about the cover. I’ve always been drawn to bright, bold covers and knew I wanted one like that for my own. It was important to me that the cover would be punchy and stand out on bookstore shelves. I wanted queer and trans readers to clock that it’s a queer book simply by looking at the cover, but without some of the more obvious queer symbols like rainbows, flags, and their associated colour schemes. I also wanted the cover to be a merging of images, to represent the many facets of identity which Lex interrogates throughout the book.
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
My editor sent me a questionnaire in which I made notes about the book’s mood, themes, symbolism, imagery, and important scenes. I also sent several book covers and images that I was drawn to, and explained why I was drawn to each one. I was living in Cambridge, MA at the time and spending a lot of time at their public library. They had beautiful displays of books, and most of the covers I sent to my editor were those I’d found while browsing the displays. I was able to take note of cover trends and see the wear and tear on well-loved books—which always had eye-catching covers. The peace of the library environment allowed me to dream. Once I sent the questionnaire, I eagerly awaited the first draft.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
I’ve seen on the publishing side how the cover design process is often a back-and-forth conversation as the author, designer, and publisher all work to get on the same page, so I expected that we might go through multiple designs before finding a winner. But when I was sent the first version of the cover, I was stunned by how perfect it was. I wanted people who saw the cover—myself included—to feel something instant and intense, but the specific feeling was one I struggled to put into words. The designer, Alysia Shewchuk, had perfectly captured exactly what I’d wanted for the cover on the first draft, using a beautiful blend of colours, expressing a deep understanding for the themes in the story. I’m profoundly grateful. Everyone I’ve shown the cover to has had a similar instant, intense reaction. Their eyes light up, their face opens. Now I can finally name the feeling—it’s awe.
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
Lex has a special interest in houseplants, but plants also act as a symbol throughout the book for the growth and change that Lex experiences in their body and in the way they see themself. The arms coming forward in a hug—what an incredible design choice—represent the deep self-love for their body that Lex works so hard to achieve, despite coming up against barrier after barrier. Lex is an illustrator drawn to hybrid forms, so I appreciated how the plants and the arms on the cover are intertwined. Instead of a head and torso, plants merge. The cover is inviting, which conveys the deep interiority of the novel and the way readers are invited into what are Lex’s vulnerable and sometimes pernicious thoughts about their own body and the bodies in their orbit.