Puffin snares non-fiction illustrated cave book by Klaus Flugge Prize 2024-winner Kate Winter

Puffin has acquired a non-fiction picture book from author/illustrator and Klaus Flugge Prize 2024 winner Kate Winter.  

The Cave Explorer will be published in hardback on 11th September 2025 – the day before the anniversary of the rediscovery of the Lascaux Cave in 1940, on which this story is centred. 

Puffin acquired world rights from Paul Moreton at Bell Lomax Moreton in the original two-book deal, which led with the acclaimed The Fossil Hunter, first published in April 2023. 

The Fossil Hunter recently won the prestigious Klaus Flugge 2024 award. 

The Cave Explorer is based on Winter’s work on cave paintings during her final MA project at the Cambridge School of Art, which won her the 2019 Searle Award.  

Winter said: “It felt so special to write and illustrate a book about some of the very first stories that our ancestors shared thousands of years ago. The revelation of our painterly past reveals the importance of the storytellers and artists who passed ideas and tales down from generation to generation. I hope that readers young and old see how powerful stories can be and how much we should treasure creativity and expression. I’m so grateful to my team at Puffin, who recognised the magic of the remarkable rediscovery of the caves in 1940 that led to a whole new understanding of what it means to be human.” 

Commissioning editor Louise Rickwood said: “We are so proud to publish Kate here at Puffin. It has been a complete joy working with her on this incredible second book, and I can’t wait for young readers to join Marcel and Robot on their amazing adventure – one that stretches all the way back to prehistory, and some of the earliest stories ever told. It is a beautiful example of Kate’s trademark combination of captivating artwork, thoughtful narrative and little-known facts, and further cements Kate as a rare talent with a very bright future in illustrated publishing.”