Steven Quincey Jones‘ “astonishing debut” (Tia Fisher) debut middle grade novel, Fishfolk, has won the Book Council of Wales’ Cover of the Year 2025 Award.

Fishfolk won in the English-language category. Read more about the award winners here.

Congratulations, Steven!

The High-and-Dry is a windswept land that is being fast lost to the ever-growing sea. The only things left are seagulls, seaweed, twins Luna and Oona, and their Grandad Mull. Luna and Oona have grown up listening to Grandad Mull’s stories about the dastardly shape-shifting fishfolk who live in the sea around them and cause the waves to swallow the shore with their spells. Storms sent by fishfolk are the reason why Grandad Mull is all that is left of their family, he says. But when Luna and Oona meet a fishfolk for real, Luna begins to question her grandfather’s stories much to Oona’s confusion.

A strikingly original and moving fable for our times from debut author Steven Quincey-Jones. With black and white woodcut-style illustrations.

Fishfolk is out now! Order your copy here and here now or, better, via your local bookshop or Bookshop.org.

Follow Steven on Instagram @s_quinceyjones and on Twitter @s_quinceyjones.