Lisa Ridzén’s runaway bestseller When the Cranes Fly South has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize of 2025 in the UK. The accolade is a celebration of exceptional first novels and emerging talent in fiction of all forms, voted for by Waterstones booksellers. When the Cranes Fly South is the first ever translated debut to be nominated. There are six novels on the shortlist and the ultimate winner will be announced on July 24th.

Bea Carvalho, Waterstones Head of Books says:

“We are delighted to present six astonishingly impressive and inspiring new voices as this year’s nominees. Our shortlist tackles weighty themes and has a lot of fun along the way, celebrating art and transgression, first love and hedonistic summer holidays, and the joy of chosen family. We love these books and look forward to championing these six writers for a long time to come.”

To learn more about the shortlist, click the link below.

Margrethe is an elderly care worker and she is sick of everything. Sick of social services, bureaucrats, and bus drivers. She has lost faith in humanity and has not seen her daughter in eight years – not since she left with the flatscreen TV and all of Margrethe’s cash.

Luka has once again cheated on an assignment at business school and receives an ultimatum: re-take the year or get kicked out. Instead, Luka walks out on his own. But where to now?

Goran manages a gambling hall. He takes care of both the slot machines and all the retirees who come to throw away all their money. But Goran is also a criminal, and soon he is faced with a life-changing decision.

Erik has lost his wife and is on the brink of losing his relationship with his teenage daughter. He does what he can to win her back. But he is not thinking as clearly anymore, and one day he loses his grip.

All of them have been sidelined, and all of them are determined to regain what they have lost. But can relationships really be salvaged when it seems like they are irrevocably ruined? And is there even the slightest possibility of getting a new chance in life?

Copenhagen Blues is a captivating, sad, and humoristic novel where four destinies are tied together.

Bo-Göran Bodin is one of Sweden’s most distinguished and awarded journalists. He has received great praise for his investigative documentaries for TV and radio, both in Sweden and internationally. His awards include Kristallen, Stora Journalistpriset and the Prix Europa.

Bodin was part of the team that revealed Sweden’s secret arms cooperation with the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, which led to the resignation of the Swedish Minister of Defense and a major international scandal in 2012.

Since 2018, Bodin has been working as editor at Sveriges Television’s documentary department, where he has written and directed several acclaimed series such as Skamlös (2023) and Att rädda ett barn (2020).

In 2023, Bodin began his screenwriting education at the esteemed Alma Löv Script Academy. In several ongoing projects, he now combines his recognized knowledge in research and in-depth interviews with driven fiction reporting.

Oslo swelters in the summer heat when a series of shootings shakes the city. An unknown assailant opens fire in crowded areas, and fear spreads quickly. The capital turns into a city under siege. In the middle of the chaos, Emma Ramm’s sister becomes an apparently random victim.

Together with Alexander Blix, a former police investigator, Emma throws herself into the hunt for a killer the police can’t understand. To Blix, it looks like more than random violence. He senses a pattern—a hidden plan with a personal motive for revenge.

As the death toll rises and panic spreads, Blix and Ramm try to stop a man who has lost everything—and has nothing left to lose.

Outcast is the sixth installment in the Blix & Ramm series by Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger.

Actor Rebecka Harper is an exciting new star to emerge on the Swedish Film and TV scene.

Harper felt drawn to the theatre world already at an early age, but it was at the age of 17, when she landed a role at Folkteatern, that she fell completely in love with it and decided to wholeheartedly pursue an acting career. Harper studied acting at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts and then moved on to live in Berlin for a couple of years. Once she returned Stockholm, she attended the esteemed Stockholm University of the Arts, from which she graduated in 2025.

Harper is set to star in a much-anticipated TV series, soon to be made official.

Lise Villadsen’s lauded YA-novel The Supermassive Black Hole Club has been shortlisted for ‘Book of the Year’ at the Danish School Libraries Author Award 2025.

The award is one of Denmark’s biggest accolades for children’s- and young adult literature and has been bestowed since 1981 to a writer that through their authorship has made an exceptional literary or non-fictional contribution to the experiences and/or knowledge of children and young adults. The award aims to celebrate the literature that truly makes a difference in schools. The recipient of the award is selected by the school library association’s board of directors and the winner will be announced at an award ceremony in October.

Along with eight other books, Sofi Oksanen’s Same River, Twice – Putin’s War on Women has been longlisted for the 2025 Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing. Oksanen’s powerful essay has been translated into English by Owen F. Witesman.

The Moore Prize is awarded to a work of non-fiction published in English that promotes the values consistent with the advancement of human rights and dignity. The Moore Prize is given by the Christopher G. Moore Foundation, a charity founded to support literary excellence in non-fiction and provide a platform to current and important human rights issues.

A jury is reading the eight longlisted books and will announce the shortlist on November 12, 2025.