12 debut fiction authors of 2022, their portraits arranged in a checker pattern.

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Reading lists

The best debut fiction to read this spring

A collage of author headshots, seen against a colourful pink and green pattern.

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Interviews

The Penguin Podcast meets 5 of the biggest debuts novelists of 2022

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

This magical tale of a Trinidadian gravedigger searching for a father he never met proves we should believe the hype

Luminous, gripping, packed with drama, colour and tension... A thoroughly original and emotionally rich examination of love, grief and inheritance... Like the vultures which escort dead souls to the afterlife, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's novel takes flight and soars

Tender and lonely and powerful... A love letter to Trinidad [and] a vivid debut about romance and loss in the Caribbean... It also centres another kind of love: the complexity of mothering and its beautiful and terrible consequences... Lloyd Banwo conjures an aching sexual energy, places the lovers in deliciously paced jeopardy and takes the tale to an agreeably thundery climax

Beguiling, mesmerising, vibrantly alive... There's a lovely dreaminess to the prose and a heart-stopping romance alongside the supernatural magic but it's a novel firmly rooted in the nitty gritty of life

Soulful, haunting, a deep-rooted love story... Uniquely tackling themes of grief, identity and acceptance, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's rhythmic prose builds tension at every step... A tale of finding one's self

Lyrical, powerful, thought-provoking... This is a book about the histories we try to erase and the importance of reckoning with them. It is about 'small lives'; about honouring deaths that have gone 'unclaimed', 'unremembered', 'unmourned'

Suffused with myth and magic, eerie, enchanting... The atmosphere is intensely conjured, with squalling storms, luscious food and sinister acts by night... In the Trinidad of Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, the departed are never gone

Mythic and captivating, electric, breathtaking... The anchor of this story is Trinidad itself. Banwo roots the reader in its traditions and rituals, in the sights and sounds and colours and smells of fruit vendors, fish vendors, street preachers and schoolchildren, in the glorious matriarchy by which lineage is upheld

Rich and rhythmic, triumphant and joyous... An enchanting exploration of love and loss, a ghost story whose characters are haunted by their ancestral responsibilities... I only wish I could have basked in the beauty of [the love story] for longer

A searing symphony of magic and loss, love and hope, where in the middle of death, love comes shiny, sparkling and alive. This book might just heal you

Marlon James, author of 'Black Leopard, Red Wolf'

Exceptional. The originality of its premise, the power and beauty of its prose, the depth of its explorations of what it means to love and be loved... When We Were Birds is about the silver cord of memory and blood and history that binds a family of women even after death. I loved this book

Jacob Ross, author of 'Black Rain Falling'

A fabulous journey to a fictionalised Trinidad, where reality and imagination, the living and the dead converge... Lovers of the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende will feel right at home... A warm, vibrant and ultimately, uplifting debut

Combining the richness of myth with razor-sharp observation of contemporary life, When We Were Birds marks the emergence of a distinctive and powerful voice

Pat Barker, author of 'The Silence of the Girls'

I was spellbound! A gorgeous, fantastical story that deftly weaves the earthly and ethereal and melds their boundaries. Womanhood and life within death is told through magical realism. A mesmerising love story that is achingly tender

Bolu Babalola, author of 'Love in Colour'

A rich mixture of the real and fantasy landscapes of Trinidad... Lloyd Banwo gives both [protagonists] an authentic voice, and we feel their conflicts and urges deeply. As the novel rushes them towards its dramatic conclusion, you almost wish for more time with them and the enigmatic world she has created

A beautifully rich and alluring love story... When We Were Birds is a mesmerizing work of fiction, embedded with timeless, mythic magic and wisdom. A stunning new voice in fiction, Banwo's tale is a standout from the crowd

Heart-warming and heart-breaking, fantastical and familiar, with characters that burrow their way into your heart and mind with their tragedies and triumphs, When We Were Birds is the kind of story that makes you want to spread your arms open wide, embrace the sky, and take flight in your own little way. It is glorious

Robert Jones Jr, author of 'The Prophets'

Magical, enchanting, majestic... Infused with the lush and terrible beauty of the Trinidadian landscape, When We Were Birds weaves dreams and apparitions, religion and myth, into a story of love in its many manifestations

Barbara Jenkins, author of 'De Rightest Place'

An eloquent and breathtaking novel from an irresistible new voice. The words are there on the page and then whoop! Suddenly they are right in the centre of your heart. Ayanna Lloyd Banwo writes on the wings of love and death

A moving and fervent meditation on belief, love, family and the transitionary power of death, Banwo's spirited, finely wrought prose draws you in and doesn't let go. When We Were Birds marks a distinctive, bold and truthful new voice in literature. Long may she fly

Courttia Newland, author of 'A River Called Time'

I absolutely loved it, and I'm sure everyone who picks it up will love it too. When We Were Birds has a similar power and depth to This One Sky Day. It is a love story between two outsiders but also a love letter to language itself, full of myth but deeply grounded in reality. I cannot wait to read what Ayanna writes next!

Anna Ellory, author of 'The Puzzle Women'

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is one of those rare voices you come across once in a long while - strong, confident and necessary. She reminds us what we should expect from great writing: the daring to take chances and to experiment with language and form

Set in a Trinidad both magical and real, and written in a rich demotic; so much more than a love story

Uplifting, engaging, expansive: this was just the book I needed. In a voice infused with the rhythms of Trinidad and Tobago, Banwo has crafted the perfect love story, one that moves with deftness between the furies of urban poverty and the gentle infinities of the afterlife. The hard-won peace and redemptive love in this story are real, and something we need more of in the world

Kawai Strong Washburn, author of 'Sharks in the Time of Saviours'

A vibrant and immersive exploration of the bonds that connect us to the past and to each other. Here, history reverberates and intoxicates. Ayanna Lloyd Banwo has swept me off my feet - she writes with the confidence and skill of prize-winning greats like Marilynne Robinson, Toni Morrison, and Isabel Allende

Megan Bradbury, author of 'Everyone is Watching'

It's a knockout, and Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is a star. I want to read everything she writes. Deep with magic, superstition, grit and heart, [and] a powerful conduit to our ownership of personal heritage

Niven Govinden, author of 'This Brutal House'

A shining new light on the literary scene. When We Were Birds is a novel reminiscent of old folklore tales, woven with myths, ghosts and love, and told with a powerful voice that is simply unforgettable

Ronali Collings, author of 'All the Single Ladies'

Stunning, lyrical, original. A work of real power and beauty, a story of magic and love, the living and the dead in Trinidad, this novel had me spellbound. I was with Yejide and Darwin all the way

Zoe Somerville, author of 'The Night of the Flood'

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's voice is haunting, and When We Were Birds is a novel of exquisite detail that opens up the liminal space between folklore and the world we inhabit

Haunting, beautiful and sharply observed. A story that gets under your skin, with characters that burrow into your heart. I adored it

Sara Nisha Adams, author of 'The Reading List'

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's electric, musical prose draws us in - we follow Darwin and Yejide as they slip in and out of incredible worlds. This is a story fluttering between dark and light, life and death, hollowing out a place in us all for love

Richard Georges, author of 'Make Us All Islands'

Authentic, stirring, magical - a book that will haunt you long after you finish reading it. Full of intricate details and rhythmic prose, it explores the complexities of love and legacy, the struggles of life and the rituals of death

Shakirah Bourne, author of 'In Time of Need'

A love story, a ghost story and a coming-of-age story, all masterfully woven into one. I loved it

This wonderfully original debut novel unspools at the stormy crossroads that separate the living and the dead... Banwo has created a unique world expansive enough to contain a ghost story, a love story, a mysterious mythology, and a thoughtful examination of how family bonds keep us firmly rooted to our pasts... [She] deftly weaves the realistic and the fantastic into a strange and compelling tapestry, a world readers will happily return to, even if they don't usually gravitate toward fantasy

[A] love story threaded through with supernatural events and dangerous secrets

Darwin is a down-on-his-luck gravedigger, newly arrived in the city to seek his fortune, young and beautiful and lost. Estranged from his mother, he is convinced that the father he never met may be waiting for him somewhere amid these bustling streets. Meanwhile in an old house on a hill, Yejide's mother is dying. And she is leaving behind a legacy that now passes to Yejide: the keeper of the dead. Darwin and Yejide will find one another in the ancient cemetery at the heart of the city, where trouble is brewing and destiny awaits... 
 
Embedded with timeless myth and magic, this hypnotic literary debut is a masterpiece about loss and renewal, darkness and light: a reckoning with a grief that runs back generations and a defiant, joyful affirmation of hope.

When We Were Birds

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Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

Praise for When We Were Birds

This magical tale of a Trinidadian gravedigger searching for a father he never met proves we should believe the hype

Luminous, gripping, packed with drama, colour and tension... A thoroughly original and emotionally rich examination of love, grief and inheritance... Like the vultures which escort dead souls to the afterlife, Ay ...

Tender and lonely and powerful... A love letter to Trinidad [and] a vivid debut about romance and loss in the Caribbean... It also centres another kind of love: the complexity of mothering and its beau ...

This magical tale of a Trinidadian gravedigger searching for a father he never met proves we should believe the hype

Luminous, gripping, packed with drama, colour and tension... A thoroughly original and emotionally rich examination of love, grief and inheritance... Like the vultures which escort dead souls to the afterlife, Ay ...

Tender and lonely and powerful... A love letter to Trinidad [and] a vivid debut about romance and loss in the Caribbean... It also centres another kind of love: the complexity of mothering and its beau ...

This magical tale of a Trinidadian gravedigger searching for a father he never met proves we should believe the hype

Luminous, gripping, packed with drama, colour and tension... A thoroughly original and emotionally rich examination of love, grief and inheritance... Like the vultures which escort dead souls to the afterlife, Ay ...

Tender and lonely and powerful... A love letter to Trinidad [and] a vivid debut about romance and loss in the Caribbean... It also centres another kind of love: the complexity of mothering and its beau ...

Articles featuring Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

The best debut fiction to read this spring

The Penguin Podcast meets 5 of the biggest debuts novelists of 2022

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