Our 2025 longlist — see below for details of each entry

  • FALLING IN LOVE ON THE FAMILY COMPUTER by Lois de Silva

    2008: on the adolescent internet, two likewise teenaged girls find each other from half the world away. But in this time when the digital and the physical are still kept at a distance, what does it mean to fall in love through a screen?

    @loisdelores See more

  • 2119: A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Sacha Cvetanovic and Alexander Morris

    In an AI-ruled future, with Mars already settled in two city-states, two brothers are parting ways. Mechanic Oscar is bound for Saturn’s moon Titan, while his brother Finn is falling in with a dangerous crime syndicate, on a path of no return.

    @sacha_cvetanovic @alexdavidmorris See more

  • UNCLE C.O. by Judy Powell

    Dawning with the 20th century, this hand-me-down story is told in the shadow of one mysterious larger-than-life relative. See ‘Uncle C.O.’ lead his family from obscurity in Ireland to prosperity in England – but he who giveth can taketh away…

    @jpowell470 See more

  • THREE NINES FINE by Alanah Knibb

    Recently diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson’s disease, Asabi moves her young family from Africa to the UK. Struggling to reconcile her changing identity with her culture, faith, and diagnosis, she turns to Aunty Tiwa – who lives with Lewy body dementia – for answers.

    @alanahknibb See more

  • GROWING by Graham Samuels, Maria Solecki and Jenny Turner

    Right before Natasha’s 40th birthday, her perfect life collapses. Cheating partner, flaky friends – but, when she’s unexpectedly awarded an unwanted allotment, she discovers you don’t always need a perfect life to live a good life.

    @growinggraphicnovel See more

  • DOES THAT MEAN I CAN DO ANYTHING? by Qianyu Wang

    After two years of uncertainty, a chance night at the theatre inspires the author to seek out an autism diagnosis. That leads to emails, phone calls, appointments, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting… And then, what next?

    @junooo.art See more

  • GAS by Chie Hosaka

    After a somewhat embarrassing trip to the hospital, 32-year-old Tia’s farts start talking to her. And she’s moved back in with her mother. Tia has too much bottled up inside – her past, her grief… When will it find, well, release?

    @chiehosaka. See more

  • IT ALL COMES TOGETHER, IT ALL FALLS APART by Richard Rudge

    Growth and decay, creation and destruction, beginning and ending… This is a story of cycles, of how time turns, of how mistakes are made and learned from. What does it mean to live in a changing world, and to be part of its changes?

    @richrudgeart_ See more

  • SEA FRET by Savannah Storm

    After graduating from university, Rina moves home to the Yorkshire coast, burned out and directionless. Inspired by some brave wintertime swimmers, she joins an unexpected community and discovers a new love of the freezing cold North Sea.

    @savannah.storm See more

  • KITTISH BANTER by Calico M. Netwally

    When Irsim finally gets away from their conservative Muslim parents, they’re hardly expecting to end up in Leeds’ gayest Muslim house-share. Soon enough, thanks to new friends and the landlord’s excitable daughter, they’re considering their relationship to religion altogether.

    @neomintsart See more

  • TURN OFF THE MACHINES by Joshua Sims

    A small toy elephant whose trunk is stitched to his chest wakes up in an abandoned library in an abstract, crumbling world. His task is simple: turn off six mysterious, failing machines. Each machine, however, is fiercely defended by its caretaker…

    @poshyartstuff See more

  • LAPIN BLEU by Lottie Withers

    In this memoir, for a child diagnosed with the rare genetic disorder 22q11 – A.K.A. DiGeorge Syndrome – her closest companion is the rabbit named Lapin Bleu. When her companion vanishes in the hospital, the loss takes its toll…

    @lottieemilieart See more

  • CARCINISATION by Jess Winton

    A lone traveller journeys north searching for a hermit who can grant any wish. In exchange for four gifts, his wish is granted: he becomes a crab. But what are these four gifts, and what stories come with them?

    @_wintern See more

  • A SLEIGH NO-ONE KNOWS by Yu-Ching Chiu

    A story about the meaning of life involving a depressed rabbit, a sheep experiencing an existential crisis, and an utterly ludicrous military project. Philosophical concepts in the strangest of contexts, but somehow true to all…

    @yuchingchiu.illustration See more

  • Natalie d'Arbeloff

    DOUBLE ENTENDRE by Natalie d'Arbeloff

    An experiment looking at a life well-lived, 95 years in the making, d’Arbeloff recalls and interrogates her experiences of events and adventures, whilst acquiring some useful self-knowledge along the way.

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  • THE SCHOOL RUN by Harriet Merry

    Within the world of the family car, one mother navigates six journeys through nature: two for her children, one for herself, and then all three all over again. Different struggles, different stories, but a shared road through a loved world.

    @harrytoady See more

  • STORY OF MY LIFE WITH ADHD by Bex Gilbert

    When Bex is finally diagnosed with ADHD at 45, everything starts making sense. It’s bittersweet news: initial empowerment gives way to social stigma and frustrating medical bureaucracy. Now Bex must find the community and support she needs on her quest for understanding.

    @bexcreative_illustrator See more

  • TWINS by Teresa Robertson

    In this memoir celebrating extended family life, the author loses her twin brother while weeks away from delivering her first child. How does one bridge the gap between death and life? How do lost things come together again?

    @teresarobertson2 See more

  • I'LL BE FINE by Jeeti Singh

    Trapped in a bathroom, hounded by her inner demons, a woman thinks back to the mother she lost to suicide years ago. So begins a life-spanning journey through time, from the history shared between mother and daughter and the future she faces without her.

    @jeeti_singh_draws See more

  • FORGET-ME-NOT by Lizz Lunney

    Loss and memory. Growing up often comes with both. This collection of autobiographical comic essays looks back on 25 years’ worth of grief, compassion, and moments of humour to create a guide for the bereaved.

    @lizzlizz See more

  • BIKES TO WATCH OUT FOR by Millie Dobson

    The existential, off-kilter journey of one cyclist in search of the bike they’d left on campus, and how they got home again. Join in the cyclist's solitary stream of consciousness, featuring personified groceries, arm wrestling, and zombies.

    @themiliad See more

  • WOLF GIRL WICKED by Yanna Sapon

    In her final year of school, Vivienne just wants to be invisible. One wrong move could capture the attention of Caoimhe, the sadistic queen bee who rules the student populace. But then Caoimhe’s behaviour starts changing… And there’s someone watching in the woods.

    @yanska_art See more

  • FOR SURVIVAL by Ella Stovell

    Two isolated strangers meet in an Edinburgh graveyard on Halloween. One happens to be a vampire. They strike up an unlikely friendship, a much-needed level of vulnerability and connection. So, who else needs help in the city’s supernatural underbelly?

    @rubbershavings See more

  • MARY & AGNES by Cathy Brett

    The true story of an almost century-long friendship. Two Scottish-born 14-year-olds, after becoming pen pals in 1926, both emigrate overseas, one to Europe and the other to America. This sets them on wholly different paths – one with an unforeseeable ending.

    @gingerdoodles See more

  • ST BRIGID AND ME by Hannah McCann

    Brigid: saint and goddess. In this memoir, the fight for abortion rights in her homeland of Ireland inspires the author to reconnect with Saint Brigid, and to connect the dots between traditional folklore and modern social justice. 

    @hannaaghhh See more

  • GOOD HAIR by Leina Elgohari

    Hair is part of a person’s identity. It’s how you present yourself to the world, and the world responds back. This is a story of how Western norms create global attitudes, about appearance and belonging, and how people get in your head about what’s on your head.

    @leinaelgohari See more

  • THE TIDE GOES OUT by Asia Kazub

    In late 19th century Poland, two childhood friends – Mira and Damroka – make a pact to never be married. One day, Mira breaks this pact, but Damroka cannot let her go. As the wedding draws closer, things of myth and folklore come to life…

    @taviisii See more

  • ANYWHERE by Qianyu Wang

    When bands go on tour, they explore so many new places – and so do the fans that follow them. This is the personal account of one very devoted fan, a narrative of personal growth woven between more than 50 concerts across the UK.

    @junooo.art See more

  • THE FROZENS by Lauren O'Farrell

    Unaware that she’s only days away from a cancer diagnosis, Lauren saves a boy she sees lying on the railway tracks. Soon she meets her own Death, and they both embark on a wild journey towards loving life.

    @deadlyknitshade See more

  • NO GOODBYES by Wes Mountain

    Do we have a right to disappear? Is it possible anymore? Thanks to modern technology, D.I. Sarah Blakely has noted more and more appearances from cold case missing persons. But before she can find some connection, their bodies start washing up on beaches…

    @therevmountain See more