There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, Translated by Karen Fleetwood & Laëtitia Saint-Loubert, Published by Bullaun Press | Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Press 2025 Winner

In this bonus episode, Aaron, Colin & Hannah revisit There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert, published by Bullaun Press.

The novel was the 2025 winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Press (now the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize), and we take this opportunity to examine why it won.

We discuss the book’s style and use it as a lens to think about what the judges may be responding to as we continue our journey through the current Queen Mary longlist.

This episode is all about context, criteria, and clues — what makes a small press novel stand out at prize level?

📖 Next Episode

Up next in our longlist reading series:
The Weasel and the Whore by Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas. Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches & Jennifer Shyue. Published by Héloïse Press

Read along with us and share your thoughts as we continue unpacking the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize longlist