Judith Wilson is a prize-winning writer of short stories. She also writes longer fiction. Her work is imbued with a strong sense of place, clarity of language, and a subtle sense of humour.
In the run-up to The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 prize giving, I spoke to Rebecca Perry, author of MAY WE FEED THE KING, about her inspirations for the novel, her writing process and where she likes to write.
JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart is the tender, heartbreaking and yet also life-affirming tale of young Cal, who, having completed art school, returns to his childhood home on the island of Harris. He is gradually drawn back into the tight-knit Presbyterian community, with its undercurrent of secret relationships, past and present, all set against the windswept, wild backdrop of a remote Scottish island.
THE MATCHBOX GIRL by Alice Jolly is the complex, richly imagined, beautifully researched and ultimately tragic story of its youthful narrator, Adelheid, who is on the autism spectrum and under the care of Dr Asperger at the Vienna Children’s Hospital, during the Second World War.
