The Observer New Review has compiled its annual selection of debut novels for 2025, focusing on writers from the UK and Ireland. This year's picks showcase a mix of talent, highlighting varied backgrounds, with many authors emerging from esteemed institutions and others making life-changing career shifts. The article reflects on past successes and the transformative impact of arts funding, especially in Ireland and Northern Ireland, suggesting that supportive literary networks are crucial for nurturing new writing talent, especially in an increasingly competitive environment.
Those kinds of fortifying networks exist in Britain too, yet the mood feels more atomised, less collegiate, not least since the White Review ceased to publish after Arts Council cuts.
Our search for the year's best debut novels only ever has one rule: the writers we choose must live in the UK or Ireland. After that, anything goes.
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