Finding North: December 2025

On tackling the final moments of the year 🌲🫠🔥

Note: The recording above is a reading of this newsletter — there’s no different content, and it’s not produced, so you’ll hear the occasional stumble, or sounds of daily life in the background. If you’re someone who needs or prefers to hear their news, then I hope it’s helpful.

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Hi there! I’m Amie Kaufman, NYT and internationally bestselling author of Red Star Rebels, The Isles of the Gods, Illuminae, Aurora Rising, Lady’s Knight, These Broken Stars, and many more. This newsletter is the place to learn about my latest releases or events, and to follow along behind the scenes.

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Hi, my friends.

Somehow we’ve reached the end of 2025, or very nearly! How did this happen?

I’ve put up my Christmas tree already. It went up on November 18th, if I’m being honest. This year I wanted the extra cheer, and I’ve been playing carols like an obsessed Christmas elf.

Almost every ornament on our tree is something we brought back from our travels. As we put it up each year, we tell the stories of where we got them.

I’ve been busy-busy-busy with all the social stuff that happens at this time of year, while casually (ha!) drafting my PhD on the side — more on all that below!

I want to remind you that if you’re in the US, you can request Red Star Rebels on Netgalley right now. If you’re in the UK, click here to request on Netgalley.

I have no control over who gets an advance copy, but I hope it’s some of you — and that you love it, and of course leave glowing reviews everywhere you can think of!

In this letter:

• Resting while working (and a secret project)

• PhD work and instagram shenanigans

• A book rec AND a podcast rec

• Books on sale!

• Musings on the end of the year

I told a friend I got a spice advent calendar this year. She thought I meant spicy books, which led to some very entertaining ships-in-the-night conversation. This one has actual spices in it.

What I’ve Been Up To

I wrote last month about what a busy run I have to the end of the year, and about my method of dealing with this — by filling my calendar with moments of rest, to make sure I don’t fall into the trap of frantic work.

This is a time of year where it’s so easy to feel out of control. This is true whether it’s the rush to buy gifts, the tug-of-war between all the places you could or should be, the need to cram your work in around holiday breaks, or just the overwhelm of trying to get everything done before the calendar flips over to 2026.

If this is you, you’re not alone. If this is you, I’ll remind you to stop, and breathe, and ask yourself which of those commitments truly need to happen. To cross a couple off. To take a moment’s rest. The world might feel like it’ll stop turning, but it won’t.

It was my birthday on the 17th, and I had a gorgeous day off, eating nice things and visiting nice places. This month I’ve also been to the movies, out for dinner dates with my daughter (if you really want to impress a six-year-old, sushi train is the way to do it) and for long walks along the beach a few times a week. I’m reading some excellent books. I’ve been to pick roses on a friend’s flower farm. I’m looking forward to the summer solstice, which is coming in just a few weeks — it’s always a time of grounding myself in nature, gathering up lots of energy for the half year we’ll spend heading into the dark, and shorter days.

If this makes it sound like I’m not also writing, then rest assured—I am writing. I am writing a lot. My brain’s humming, and it’s lots of fun.

I also went on writing retreat with my friend Lili Wilkinson, and we cooked up a very fun secret project. I won’t be able to tell you anything about it for a while, but I’m looking forward to it!

Some glimpses of retreat: the Aurora Australis from the cliff top, and the view from a brain-break walk.

The other thing I’m doing at the moment is thinking about my word for 2026. I pick a word each year to guide my decisions. My ‘compass word,’ if you like. In 2022, it was nurture. In 2023, it was adventure. In 2024, it was play. In 2025, it was present.

I don’t yet know what it’ll be for 2026, but I’m enjoying thinking about it. If you have a handle on what you want for 2026 already, I’d love to hear about it!

What I’m Writing

In great news for those of you who read last month’s letter, I managed to write the academic paper I’d signed up to deliver, and that’ll be happening tomorrow! (I know, you’ve all been fretting about whether I’d pull it off.) I’m trying to finish up a (rough, rough!) draft of my PhD thesis by December 17th, which is when the summer holidays start here. My family will be piling in the campervan and heading off camping, and I’d really love to do it without critical race theory and stats on publishing representation rattling around in my head.

Stay tuned next month to see if I actually managed it!

The other thing I’m doing, which isn’t so much writing as writing-adjacent is preparing to promote Red Star Rebels. It’s a funny feeling. One part of me just wants to live in a house in the woods and never have to promote a book — wants the art to just speak for itself, and also just doesn’t like social media. Another part loves chatting to readers, and could never live in a house in the woods. Another part loves the book, and wants to tell everyone about it. All the parts wrestle on a regular basis.

Anyway, here’s a glimpse at the kind of enjoyable nonsense you can expect between now and the start of February.

I am, of course, obliged to remind you that it would be extremely helpful if you’d consider preordering Red Star Rebels. Early reviews are already coming in, and they’re all saying it’s fast-paced and full of action, and funny and romantic. Which is honestly a relief, because it can be quite hard to tell when you’re the author.

Preorders really help demonstrate reader enthusiasm to publishers, and is the best way out there to support the authors you love.

🇺🇸 If you’re in the US, you can find all your preorder links right here. And remember, you can try for an advance copy on Netgalley here.

🇬🇧 If you’re in the UK, you can preorder from Waterstones, Amazon, Blackwell’s, Bookshop, Foyle’s, Hive, or WH Smith (who seem to have changed their name to TG Jones, what’s going on over there?)

🇦🇺 If you’re in Australia, you can buy from Dymocks, Booktopia, Readings, Amazon or QBD.

And wherever you live, you can add it as to-read on Goodreads, which I know seems like it doesn’t really do much, but actually does — again, signalling enthusiasm!

What I’ve Loved Lately

I don’t usually recommend a book before I’ve read it, but in this case I just couldn’t help it. I’m a huge Alex Gino fan, and their latest book is about fighting your loneliness with books, having an annoying sibling, a family member with chronic pain, and navigating new friendships. It’s just come out, so I wanted to recommend it to you now, since the holidays are coming — I think it should be on your gift-giving lists.

Over the summer, Chris reads 72 books, and logs them all. Alex sent me a picture of that page while I wait for my copy to arrive, because my own Ice Wolves is there at number 25. That’s something I didn’t even know was on my bucket list definitely checked off!

This month I also want to recommend something that’s particularly seasonally relevant, especially if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. This book starts at the winter solstice, and reading it then is a beautiful experience.

Anyone who has heard me talk about books will have heard me talk about my all-time favourite book: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. I’m far from alone in this — it’s beloved around the world, and many, many authors will tell you how it influenced them as young readers. As well as reading the book at this time of year, there’s also a podcast adaption that has Susan Cooper’s authorial stamp of approval — she loves it, and you can see why.

The story has been lovingly adapted into twelve episodes with a wonderful sound bed, and you should make sure you listen using headphones, as it has binaural sound, which gives you the feeling of the whole thing being in 3D, and coming from different directions. I highly recommend it.

You can find it on the BBC website here, or search for ‘The Dark Is Rising’ wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a wonderful article by Robert Macfarlane, who adores the book and co-created the adaption, available here.

News and Events

American readers: For the next week, you can grab Aurora Rising for $1.99 wherever you get your ebooks. If you haven’t read it, this is the perfect time to try it. If you have, the perfect time to gift it!

You can also find Lady’s Knight in the huge Audible sale that’s on this week — I’m adding this note to the newsletter at the last moment, but I’m told it’s half off (I can’t see, because geofencing sends me to the Aussie site) and I hope you’ll consider grabbing it. I can’t tell you how much I adore the narrators. You can find a full hour sample here.

Podcast listeners, make sure you’re subscribed to Pub Dates, because we have a new episode coming your way very soon, with a quick catch-up and some holiday book recommendations. We’ll also be back in 2026 to discuss Red Star Rebels.

Aussie readers, I’m a proud ambassador for the Big Summer Read program this year. I’m ambassadoring (definitely a word) for the YA program, where readers aged 13 - 18 can register the books they read over summer, and maybe win an eReader! You can find all the details here.

And that’s it for this month!

I’ll be back next month to tell you whether I finished that thesis draft (all academic vibes accepted, please send them my way) and to tell you my word for 2026.

I hope your run-in to the holidays is wonderful, and full of whatever magic the season holds for you. (And for the bits that aren’t magic, a message from your friend with a Masters in Conflict Resolution — that’s me: You don’t have to be dragged into conversations you don’t want to be in, with relatives you know you’ll never agree with. Politely declining to be a part of it doesn’t mean you’re the one causing trouble.)

Final reminder that if you’re in the US, you can request Red Star Rebels on Netgalley right now. If you’re in the UK, click here to request on Netgalley.

And wherever you are, I hope your holiday reads are fantastic, and make you laugh/cry/swoon/gasp/experience your favourite emotions. See you in 2026!

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