Join Keele University academic and author Lisa Blower in conversation with Kit de Waal in the Westminster Theatre.

The event promises to be an intriguing insight into the world of this renowned author, uncovering details of her journey, inspirations, motivations and writing processes.

Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  

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 Award for 2017. In 2022 it was adapted for television by the BBC. It is now on the GCSE curriculum for schools. 

Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was longlisted for the Women's Prize and her young adult novel Becoming Dinah was shortlisted for the Carnegie CLIP Award.

A collection of short stories, Supporting Cast was published in 2020.

An anthology of working-class memoir, Common People was crowdfunded and edited by Kit in 2019.

Her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes was published in August 2022. 

Kit founded her own TV production company, Portopia Productions and the Big Book Weekend, a free digital literary festival in 2020 and has written for theatre and television. She was named the FutureBook Person of the Year 2019 and is patron of Prisoners Abroad, The Bridport Prize and Writing West Midlands. She is also an ambassador for Wellbeing in the Arts and the Listening Books, on the Advisory Board of Dead Ink Books and a trustee of The Reading Agency. 

Kit is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor and Jean Humphreys Writer in Residence at Leicester University. 

Her new novel The Best of Everything is released in April 2025.

This is a FREE event, please book your place by following the below link;

Westminster Theatre, 30th April at 6pm.

PARKING & HOW TO FIND US: Parking is free on campus after 5pm on a weekday and during the weekend. During a week day parking is limited on campus and restricted to P&D parking located outside the Student Union building during the daytime (until 5pm).  
Campus map here: https://www.keele.ac.uk/about/howtofindus/maps/keele-campus-map.pdf 
The gallery is located in Building 54 on this map, the car park is C3 during the evening and at weekends and and P&D during weekdays.  

ACCESS: Chancellor's Building is fully accessible. There are a number of disabled parking bays in close proximity on C3 car park. There is ramped and flat access from the car park. Chancellor's Building is busy teaching building on campus during a weekday; if you prefer a quieter time to visit we suggest after 5pm on a weekday or going along on the weekend. 

 

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Book event