Femme Feral countdown!

Hello loves,

I have many thrilling things to tell you about - buckle up!

Femme Feral pre-orders

THING THE FIRST AND MOSTEST: my debut adult novel Femme Feral will be on bookshelves sooner than you can shake a wolf-tail.

South Africa 31 March, United Kingdom 9 April, and United States 12 May

I am having a lot of feelings about this! Mostly overwhelming joy, and also anxiety, and also excitement that I finally get to introduce you to the imaginary friends I've been hanging out with for most of the past few years.

If there's any chance at all that you think you might like to buy the book (THANK YOU!) I have a massive favour to ask. The single most helpful thing you can do is to pre-order the book right now. That's because all the pre-sales count as first-week sales, which radically improves the chances that the book might make it onto a bestseller list, which means I'll ultimately sell far more books overall.

South Africans, this is less of a thing for you, beloved tjommas! You can feel free to wait until the book's for sale in your local bookshop.

UK Indie Special Edition

British buddies, I have a special extra treat for you. Because indie bookshops are the lifeblood of our cities, we're doing a signed special edition with witty sprayed edges (a razor shaving away fur). I'm utterly obsessed with it.

Pre-order the special edition here.

Observer Debut Novelists Live Event

The best thing that's happened to me so far this year is that the boujie bakery across the road from me started selling rhubarb tarts. The second best thing that's happened to me so far this year is that I was named one of the Observer's debut novelists of 2026. To say this is a dream come true would be a lie, because I’ve never even let myself dream this big.

Londoners, we're having a live event on 15 April and I'd be so delighted if some of you could attend. Come hang out with me and the seven other utterly marvellous novelists on this year's list, hear about our books and what inspired them, and let me give you an enthused high-five (I shall be HYPE).

Updates from Sam-land

I haven't sent a newsletter for a while, but rest assured that I have been TIRELESSLY HACKING WORDS FROM THE WORD-MINES FOR YOU, my loves! I've finished three big projects over the past few months:

1. A solid first draft of my next novel. I'm still trying to find the title, but for now I'm just calling it MAMA. If you're interested in the agonised process of writing a novel, I've been keeping a live writing journal.
2. A second draft of the Marmalade is Missing screenplay. I can't tell you how cathartic it's been to write an animated farce about rising fascism in 1930s Europe and queer Soho nightclubs and art as resistance given ... you know (gestures broadly).
3. A full update of the SA edition of Manage Your Money Like a F-cking Grownup, which I'll be telling you lots about later in the year.

I've also been teaching a writing workshop at Bath Spa University, knitting lots of gift Sophie Scarves, training for another half-marathon, doing lots of Femme Feral publicity, and spending lots of time with friends enjoying the returning northern hemisphere sunlight. Life feels full and rich and beautiful right now, despite my OVERWHELM about the fact that I HAVE A NOVEL LAUNCHING IN A MONTH, did I mention??

Wishing you daffodils,

Sam