Mandy Theresa O'Loughlin (born 26 July 1960), known professionally as Kit de Waal, is a British/Irish writer. Her debut novel, ''My Name Is Leon'', was published by
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
in June 2016. After securing the publishing deal with Penguin, De Waal used some of her advance to set up the Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship to help improve working-class representation in the arts.Dawn Foster "Kit de Waal: 'Working-class stories need to be told'" ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 3 February 2016. The
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
version of ''My Name is Leon'' is voiced by
Sir Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenny Henry Show'' in 1984. He ...
. De Waal has also published short stories, including the collection ''Supporting Cast'' (2020). She is visiting professor in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester.
Early life
De Waal was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, in the West Midlands of England, and grew up in the suburb of
Moseley
Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre.
It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...
. She is a national of both Britain and Ireland. Her mother, Sheila O'Loughlin (), was a foster carer, registered child minder and
auxiliary nurse
Nursing in the United Kingdom is the profession of ''registered nurses'' and nursing associates in the primary and secondary care of patients. It has evolved from assisting physicians to encompass a variety of professional roles. Over 700,000 ...
. Her father, Arthur Desmond O'Loughlin, was an African-Caribbean bus driver from
Basseterre
Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south-wester ...
,
Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...
. De Waal was brought up in Birmingham among the Irish community, and has recalled: "We were the only black children at the Irish Community Centre and the only ones with a white mother at the West Indian Social Club."
Small Heath
Small Heath is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre.
History
Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman t ...
, Birmingham. She worked for 15 years in criminal and family law and as a
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
('' Justice of the peace''). She sits on adoption panels, worked as an adviser for Social Services and has written training manuals on
adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...
and
foster care
Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...
.
She began writing for pleasure at an early age, and when her children were relatively independent, she decided to study creative writing, which she did at
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...
, achieving a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
.
Her debut novel, ''My Name Is Leon'', about a mixed-race nine-year-old boy, is set against the backdrop of the
1981 Handsworth riots
The 1981 Handsworth riots were three days of rioting that took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England in July 1981. The major outbreak of violence took place on the night of Friday 10/11 July, with smaller disturbances on the foll ...
and was published in 2016 by Viking (
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'', 10 December 2016. It drew on her personal and professional experience of foster care and the adoption system:"A Conversation with Kit de Waal" Greenacre Writers, 11 April 2016.
The novel has won many accolades, being chosen as the Irish Novel of the Year Award 2017,Martin Doyle "My Name is Leon wins Irish Novel of the Year Award" ''The Irish Times'', 1 June 2017. and included on the shortlists for the
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...
for a first novel and the
Desmond Elliott Prize
The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receiv ...
. ''My Name Is Leon'' has been produced as an audiobook voiced by
Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...
, who has also optioned it for a television adaptation.
She also writes short stories and
flash fiction
Flash fiction is a brief fictional narrative that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the For sale: baby shoes, never worn, six-word story; the 280-character story (also kn ...
, and among her previous other awards are the Bath Short Story Award 2014, the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the
SI Leeds Literary Prize
The SI Leeds Literary Prize is a biennial award founded in 2012 by Soroptimist International of Leeds (SI Leeds) – a branch of the worldwide women's organization Soroptimist International – for unpublished fiction written by Black and Asian w ...
Reader's Choice in 2014. Her short-story collection ''Supporting Cast'', featuring the lives of secondary characters from her novels, was published by Penguin in 2020. As well as being published in anthologies (such as
Margaret Busby
Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...
's 2019 ''
New Daughters of Africa
''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora ...
''), de Waal's work has been broadcast on radio, including her story "Adrift at the Athena", which was commissioned for the anthology ''A Midlands Odyssey'' by Nine Arches Press, and "The Beautiful Thing" – "about emigration, backstory and new beginnings" – was read on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
by
Burt Caesar
Burt Caesar is a British actor, broadcaster and director for stage and television, who was born in St Kitts and migrated to England with his family as a child."Whatever happened to working-class writers?" ''The Herald'' (Scotland), 24 July 2016. and on 22 November 2017 she presented the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Where Are All the Working Class Writers?'' exploring issues of inclusivity in the arts and working-class representation in present-day British literature.
She went on to edit ''Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers'', which was crowd-funded and published through Unbound in May 2019.
In 2019, she became an "Ambassador" for the audiobook charity Listening Books. She commented: "I am a devotee of audiobooks. They reach you in a different way."
In March 2020, de Waal co-founded with Molly Flatt a three-day virtual books festival called "The Big Book Weekend", broadcast live across three days over the first bank holiday weekend in May as part of BBC Arts "Culture In Quarantine" programming.
The Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship
Three days after winning a publishing deal for ''My Name Is Leon'', she began setting up a scholarship for a writer from a disadvantaged background. The Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship is a fully funded scholarship, created by de Waal using some of her advance for her novel, at
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...
."Fully funded creative writing scholarship launched at Birkbeck" News – Birkbeck, University of London, 6 November 2015.
Launched in October 2016 at Birkbeck's Department of English and Humanities, the scholarship provides a fully funded place for one student to study on the Birkbeck Creative Writing MA, and also includes a travel bursary to allow the student to travel into London for classes and
Waterstones
Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...
' vouchers to allow the student to buy books on the reading list. The inaugural scholarship was awarded to former Birmingham poet laureate Stephen Morrison-Burke."Morrison-Burke named inaugural Kit de Waal scholar" , Penguin Random House UK, May 2016.