Debut Authors and Interrupters – the 2025 Little Rebels Award Shortlist
The Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction has announced its 2025 shortlist, on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers. The six shortlisted titles ‘boldly interrupt the children’s literature landscape’, say the organisers, reflecting back on queer histories and commenting on urgent social justice issues in the present.
The Little Rebels Award 2025 shortlist is:
Cottonopolis by S F Layzell (Northodox Press)
The Fights That Make Us by Sarah Hagger-Holt (Usborne)
Keedie by Elle McNicoll (Knights Of)
Kende! Kende! Kende! text by Kirsten Cappy, Yaya Gentille; illustrated by Rahana Dariah (Child’s Play)
Mayowa And The Sea Of Words by Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury)
Zac And Jac by Cathy Jenkins (Graffeg)
The Little Rebels Award judge Dr. Darren Chetty said, ‘The stories that make up this year’s Little Rebels shortlist stretch across time, space and realms reminding us that the fight for justice is nothing new, nor a fight that is over. We are invited to join the dots between then and now, here and there, all the time paying close attention to the careful, radical prose and illustrations on display in each of the shortlisted books.’
The other judges this year are author and illustrator, Chris Haughton, Centre for Literacy in Primary Education librarian, Phoebe Demeger, teacher and author, Alom Shaha, and designer and illustrator, Soofiya.
‘A good book has the power to counter mainstream assumptions. To me that is what publishing should really be all about, to challenge the narrative and get us thinking and questioning. The Little Rebels Award highlights the books that do this. Books that challenge the status quo and amplify marginalised voices,’ says Chris Haughton.
The Little Rebels Award is proud to continue its history of recognising debut authors (most notably when Zanib Mian took the prize in 2018) who take up half of the 2025 shortlist: S F Layzell, Cathy Jenkins and Chibundu Onuzo (with her children’s fiction debut). Indie publishers, including micro presses, dominate, with titles from Northodox Press, Graffeg, Knights of and Childs Play. Elle McNicoll appears on the shortlist for the third time and Sarah Hagger Holt, winner of the 2022 award, returns to the shortlist.
The 2025 Little Rebels Award winner will be announced at an evening ceremony in October. The winner’s prize includes £2,000 funded by the Marxist Socialist funder, The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. Free downloadable reading guides for each of the shortlisted titles will shortly be available through the Little Rebels Award website, enabling educators and carers to discuss and plan activities around the social justice topics raised in the shortlist.
