Rebecca Perry's novel May We Feed The King has been awarded the 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, with judges praising it as a "wildly original and moving reflection on history." The announcement came during a ceremony at Waterstones' flagship Piccadilly store in London on Thursday.
Prize Details and Judging
The prize, now in its second year, awards the winner £5,000 and a commitment from Waterstones to support their writing career. Bea Carvalho, Waterstones' head of books, stated: "We are delighted to announce that Waterstones booksellers have named Rebecca Perry the winner of the 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. From a shortlist of six stunning debuts, May We Feed the King stood out for its crisp, cool prose and its playfully enigmatic approach to storytelling."
About the Winning Novel
The book's narrative "moves playfully between a curator in the present day, and the medieval king whose rooms she is recreating," according to the prize organizers. Carvalho added: "With a poet's eye for detail and a keen sense of humour, Perry grapples with the slippery nature of memory and the burden of power. To read May We Feed the King is to creep behind the scenes of a museum and witness its exhibits come to life."
Author Background
London-born Perry is primarily known as a poet, having published two poetry collections: Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit, as well as the creative non-fiction work On Trampolining. She commented on her novel: "In writing this book, I wanted to press at the edges of both historical fiction as a genre, and how we narrate history, testing what gives and what holds. But I also wanted to explore the capacities of loneliness and imagination, and ultimately what happens when a person defies what is expected of them, refusing to step into the tyranny of power."
Shortlist and Previous Winner
The other five shortlisted books were Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash, Honey In The Wound by Jiyoung Han, Under Water by Tara Menon, A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia, and The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski. Last year's winner, The Artist by Lucy Steeds, went on to become Waterstones' August Fiction Book Of The Month and was later crowned Waterstones Book of the Year for 2025.
