Kit de Waal facts for kids

Kit de Waal (2020)

Mandy Theresa O'Loughlin (born on July 26, 1960), known as Kit de Waal, is a British and Irish writer. Her first novel, My Name Is Leon, came out in June 2016. After getting her book deal, Kit de Waal used some of her money to create the Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship. This scholarship helps people from working-class backgrounds get into writing. The audiobook of My Name is Leon is read by Sir Lenny Henry. Kit de Waal has also written many short stories. She is a visiting professor of Creative Writing at the University of Leicester.

Kit de Waal's Early Life

Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham, England. She grew up in a part of Birmingham called Moseley. She is a citizen of both Britain and Ireland. Her mother, Sheila O'Loughlin, was a foster carer and a nurse. Her father, Arthur Desmond O'Loughlin, was a bus driver from Saint Kitts in the Caribbean. Kit de Waal grew up in Birmingham's Irish community. She remembers being "the only black children at the Irish Community Centre." She was also "the only ones with a white mother at the West Indian Social Club."

Education and Career Path

Kit de Waal went to Waverley Grammar School in Birmingham. For 15 years, she worked in law, helping with criminal and family cases. She also worked as a magistrate, which is like a judge for less serious cases. She helped on adoption panels and advised Social Services. She also wrote guides about adoption and foster care.

She loved writing from a young age. When her children were older, she decided to study writing more seriously. She earned a master's degree in creative writing from Oxford Brookes University.

My Name Is Leon Novel

Her first novel, My Name Is Leon, is about a nine-year-old mixed-race boy. The story takes place during the 1981 Handsworth riots in Birmingham. The book was published in 2016 after many publishers wanted it. Kit de Waal used her own experiences with foster care and adoption for the book. She said, "I was brought up like that, I'm mixed race, I have adopted children." She also mentioned living in Handsworth when the riots happened.

The novel has won many awards. It was named the Irish Novel of the Year in 2017. It was also nominated for the Costa Book Awards and the Desmond Elliott Prize. Lenny Henry read the audiobook version. He also plans to make it into a TV show.

Other Writings and Projects

Kit de Waal also writes short stories and very short stories called flash fiction. She has won awards for these, too. Her collection of short stories, Supporting Cast, came out in 2020. These stories are about the side characters from her novels. Her work has appeared in other books, like New Daughters of Africa. Her stories have also been on the radio. "Adrift at the Athena" and "The Beautiful Thing" were both broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

She cares about making the publishing world more open to everyone. In 2017, she hosted a BBC Radio 4 show called Where Are All the Working Class Writers?. This show looked at why there aren't many working-class writers in British literature.

She also put together a book called Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers. This book was funded by many people and published in 2019.

In 2019, she became an "Ambassador" for Listening Books. This charity provides audiobooks to people who find it hard to read. She said she loves audiobooks because "They reach you in a different way."

In March 2020, Kit de Waal helped start "The Big Book Weekend." This was a three-day online book festival. It was broadcast live as part of BBC Arts' "Culture In Quarantine" program.

The Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship

Just three days after getting her book deal for My Name Is Leon, Kit de Waal started a scholarship. This scholarship helps writers from less privileged backgrounds. The Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship is fully paid for. Kit de Waal used some of the money she got for her novel to create it. It is offered at Birkbeck, University of London.

The scholarship started in October 2016. It pays for one student to study for a Master's degree in Creative Writing at Birkbeck. It also gives money for travel to classes in London. Plus, it provides vouchers for books needed for the course. The first scholarship was given to Stephen Morrison-Burke, a poet from Birmingham.

Prizes and Publications