Xiaolu Guo's remarkable feminist reimagining of Moby-Dick is, among other things, a rollicking adventure novel. Here's my review of Call Me Ishmaelle in the Literary Review

And we have a winner! Congratulations to Gäelle Béllem & Bullaun Press for winning the 2025 Republic of Consciousness Prize with the outstanding tragi-comic tour-de-force There's A Monster Behind the Door. Read the Guardian coverage here

Thanks to my fellow judges Alice Jolly & Houman Barekat. Also thanks to Neil Griffiths of Weatherglass Books for hosting the winner's announcement event at Foyles on April 1st, and for founding this unique prize for small presses a decade ago.