ABOUT
Kit de Waal
Kit de Waal was born to an Irish mother and a Caribbean father and grew up in the Irish community of Birmingham in the 1960s and 70s. Her writing is rooted in those early years — in ordinary lives, working-class streets, and the kind of stories that don't always make it onto the page.
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Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2017. It was adapted for BBC television in 2022 and is now on the GCSE curriculum.
Her subsequent novels The Trick to Time and Supporting Cast, and her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes, have confirmed her as one of Britain's most distinctive and compassionate voices.​
Her latest novel, The Best of Everything, was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026.​Beyond her books, Kit has spent over a decade advocating for working-class writers in publishing — as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Leicester, and through her roles as trustee, patron, and ambassador for organisations including The Reading Agency, The Bridport Prize, Prisoners Abroad, Bookbanks, and Wellbeing in the Arts.
Women's Prize for Fiction 2025
The judging panel is chaired by Kit, joined by:
Novelist, journalist Diana Evans
Author, journalist and mental-health campaigner Bryony Gordon
Magazine editor, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour UK Deborah Joseph
Musician and composer Amelia Warner
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The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world. 2025 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, sponsored by Audible and Baileys.
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