Category: Interviews

Interviews

Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

The Black List recently announced the seven winners of its inaugural Unpublished Novel Award, introducing the world to seven writers across various genres from children’s and young adult fiction to adult crime, horror, and literary fiction.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We asked Nagel to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and his Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, Gates To Nowhere.

Continue reading “Meet Simon Nagel, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
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Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

The Black List recently announced the seven winners of its inaugural Unpublished Novel Award, introducing the world to seven writers across various genres from children’s and young adult fiction to adult crime, horror, and literary fiction.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We asked Ellis to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and her Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, We Meet Again.

Continue reading “Meet Jessica Ellis, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
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.

Continue reading “Oliver Munday is a Graphic designer, Creative Director, Fiction Writer, and the Head of Household” →
Interviews

Meet Rua Morrow, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Rua Morrow, 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 Rua Morrow, winner of the Thriller & Suspense award for her manuscript, Pressure. Morrow is an Irish-American novelist who writes about climate science and the human psyche. In August 2025, Pressure was also a finalist in the Best Suspense category of the Killer Nashville Claymore Awards, which honor the best unpublished first fifty pages of a manuscript.

We asked Morrow to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and her Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, Pressure.

Continue reading “Meet Rua Morrow, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
inside the collection, Interviews

Inside the Collection: Kim Samek dissects I Am the Ghost Here

by AdamLeave a Comment on Inside the Collection: Kim Samek dissects I Am the Ghost Here
Inside the Collection: Kim Samek dissects I Am the Ghost Here

What makes a great short story collection? In Debutiful’s latest Q&A series, Inside the Collection, short story writers will take readers through their writing, editing, and sequencing of their debut short story collection.

In I Am the Ghost Here, writer Kim Samek shows readers contemporary life with a twist. Each story strips down the rituals and technologies that structure modern existence and bends them into the surreal. Prior to realising this, her short fiction won a Pushcart Prize and has been featured in Guernica, Ecotone, Electric Literature, North American Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, swamp pink, Gulf Coast, Southern Humanities Review, The Threepenny Review, Story, and ZYZZYVA. She also was a writer and television producer whose credits include MTV’s Catfish and PBS’s WordGirl and earned her Emmy nominations.

In our latest “Inside the Collection” Q&A, Samek dissects her debut short story collection, I Am the Ghost Here.

Continue reading “Inside the Collection: Kim Samek dissects I Am the Ghost Here” →
Interviews

Meet David Barringer, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet David Barringer, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet David Barringer, 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 David Barringer, winner of the Horror award for his manuscript, A Box Came For You. Barringer has done it all. He’s worked as a freelance journalist, lawyer, design writer, novelist, graphic designer, editor, photographer, and teacher. His screenplay Summer Clubbing, adapted from his own novel, was an Official Semifinalist in the Los Angeles Crime & Horror Film Festival 2021, a Quarterfinalist in the Screencraft Horror Screenplay Competition 2020, and an Official Selection in the HorrorHaus Film Festival 2020.

We asked Barringer to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and his Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, A Box Came For You.

Continue reading “Meet David Barringer, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
Interviews

Meet Terah Tsuyako Summers, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Terah Tsuyako Summers, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Terah Tsuyako Summers, 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 Terah Tsuyako Summers, winner of the Children’s and Young Adult award for her manuscript, More Than Quiet. Summers is a coordinator for a Hawai‘i-based mental health advocacy organization who started writing to articulate how she felt struggling with mental health. She says reading and writing “became my lifeline.”

We asked Summers to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and her Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, More Than Quiet.

Continue reading “Meet Terah Tsuyako Summers, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
Interviews, my reading life

Maybe the Body Poet Asa Drake thinks a lot about time and place when writing

by AdamLeave a Comment on Maybe the Body Poet Asa Drake thinks a lot about time and place when writing
Maybe the Body Poet Asa Drake thinks a lot about time and place when writing

Asa Drake was a 2024 National Poetry Series finalist and has received fellowships and awards from the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest, the Florida Book Awards, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Storyknife, Sundress Publications, Tin House, and Idyllwild Arts. Her poems have been published with The Slowdown Podcast, The American Poetry Review, The Paris Review Daily, and The Georgia Review.

Her debut poetry collection, Maybe the Body, explores the conflicts between art and patriotism, labor and longing. It is now available from Tin House.

We asked Drake 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 book.

Continue reading “Maybe the Body Poet Asa Drake thinks a lot about time and place when writing” →
Interviews

Meet Cam Terwilliger, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Cam Terwilliger, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Cam Terwilliger, 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 Cam Terwilliger, winner of the Literary Fiction award for his manuscript, White Flame. Terwillger lives in Brooklyn, where he currently teaches at New York University. His writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, Electric Literature, Gettysburg Review, and Narrative, where he was named one of Narrative’s “15 Under 30.” With an MFA from Emerson College, he has also received support from Brown University, the Fulbright Program, James Jones First Novel Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Public Library, Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, and the Bread Loaf, Tin House, and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences.

We asked Terwilliger to give readers a brief insight into his writing life and his Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, White Flame.

Continue reading “Meet Cam Terwilliger, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →
Interviews

Meet Roz Ray, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award

by AdamLeave a Comment on Meet Roz Ray, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award
Meet Roz Ray, 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 Roz Ray, winner of the Crime & Mystery award for her manuscript, Us Honest Crooks. She was born and raised in Seattle and received an MFA from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. Ray has spent years teaching writing to K-12 students and at universities and is in the process of becoming a certified Wired for Reading specialist.

We asked Ray to give readers a brief insight into her writing life and her Unpublished Novel Award-winning manuscript, Us Honest Crooks.

Continue reading “Meet Roz Ray, Winner of the Black List’s Unpublished Novel Award” →