Tag: books

Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: The Compound author Aisling Rawle’s first book love was The Wind in the Willows

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My Reading Life: The Compound author Aisling Rawle’s first book love was The Wind in the Willows

Aisling Rawle’s debut novel, The Compound, is a chillingly prescient exploration of reality TV, desire, and survival in a world teetering on collapse. Set on a remote desert compound where twenty contestants compete to outlast each other for luxury rewards and existential purpose, the story follows Lily, a bored and beautiful twenty-something, as she navigates the blurred lines between performance and reality, safety and spectacle, love and manipulation.

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

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News, Recommendations

The Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far)

by Adam37 Comments on The Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far)
The Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far)

To see the final Best Debut Books of 2025 list, please visit this link.

We’re halfway through the year, and it’s time to check in on the books that left the most significant impact on me. Every year, I keep a running list that leads to the Best Of lists. Some are titles that I recommend the most, others are the ones that challenged me. I look for worlds I would never experience on my own, tantalizing writing, and a dash of sad, weird, or horny. Kudos if they could hit all three.

The debut books below (20 fiction, 5 poetry, and 5 nonfiction) are the books I consider to be the best of the year so far. Of course, I think any of the books Debutiful previously recommended could find their spot on here, but a list has to end somewhere.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: The Ones We Loved author Tarisai Ngangura wants children to cultivate a genuine love of reading

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My Reading Life: The Ones We Loved author Tarisai Ngangura wants children to cultivate a genuine love of reading

Tarisai Ngangura is a journalist originally from Zimbabwe, whose writing has appeared in Rookie Mag, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly, and the Globe and Mail. Now, her debut novel The Ones We Loved has hit bookstores. The debut is about two young strangers fleeing personal tragedy who find solace in each other while traversing a haunted landscape of grief, memory, and myth. Rooted in Zimbabwean storytelling traditions, the novel explores love, exile, and the enduring human search for belonging.

We asked the writer to answer our recurring My Reading Life questionnaire so readers could get to know her and the books that shaped her life better.

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News, Recommendations

6 more 2025 debut books you should buy right now

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6 more 2025 debut books you should buy right now

Sometimes, I discover a book too late or just can’t get around to reading it in time for Debutiful’s monthly lists. Here are 6 more debut books that will knock your socks off. They’re all available right now, so you should be en route to the bookstore.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Portalmania author Debbie Urbanski was obsessed with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child

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My Reading Life: Portalmania author Debbie Urbanski was obsessed with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child

After releasing her debut novel After World in 2023, Debbie Urbanski is back with her debut short story collection Portalmania. The collection explores any and every genre from sci-fi and fantasy to horror and realism. It’s the perfect book for anyone looking for supernatural escapism that is dripping with the grounded and unique characters.

We asked Urbanski to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: This Is Your Mother author Erika J. Simpson wants teens to sink into worlds they love

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My Reading Life: This Is Your Mother author Erika J. Simpson wants teens to sink into worlds they love

Erika J. Simpson, author of the memoir This Is Your Mother, is a recent transplant to Denver after spending her life in the South. She received her MFA from the University of Kentucky and received the 2021 MFA Award in Nonfiction. Her essay “If You Ever Find Yourself” was published in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity and featured in Best American Essays 2022.

Her memoir is a powerful reckoning with legacy, loss, and the shifting terrain between mother and daughter. Through scripture-steeped memories and raw reflections, Erika Simpson traces her mother’s mythic resilience and the moment it gave way to mortality. In peeling back the layers of her mother’s story, she uncovers her own.

We asked her to answer our recurring My Reading Life questionnaire so readers could get to know her, and the books that shaped her life, better.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Outside Women author Roohi Choudry was surrounded by British kids’ books growing up in Pakistan and southern Africa

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My Reading Life: Outside Women author Roohi Choudry was surrounded by British kids’ books growing up in Pakistan and southern Africa

Roohi Choudhry’s debut novel Outside Women follows two migrant women, Sita in 1890s South Africa and Hajra in modern-day New York, whose lives are separated by a century but connected by a shared pursuit of justice. As Hajra uncovers Sita’s hidden history, the novel explores identity, resistance, and the enduring power of solidarity across generations.

She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and has received honors from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Hedgebrook, and Djerassi. Her writing spans criminal justice reform, public health, and creative nonfiction, with work appearing in Ploughshares, Callaloo, Longreads, and The Kenyon Review.

We asked the writer to answer our recurring My Reading Life questionnaire so readers could get to know her better and discover the books that shaped her life.

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News

See the covers for Unnamed Press’s three lead debut titles

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See the covers for Unnamed Press’s three lead debut titles

Thank You, John by Michelle Gurule, Sister Creatures by Laura Venita Green, and Zone Rogue by Michael Jerome Plunkett will all be released this Fall, within a month of each other, from Unnamed Press. The indie press has selected three debuts to be their lead titles for the season instead of building their promotion around established writers. Here at Debutiful, we love that notion, and below we have a combined Q&A with the three debut writers to showcase their exciting and gorgeous debut covers designed by Jaya Nicely.

All three titles are now available for pre-order and more information about each writer and book can be found below.

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