Latest news with #KitdeWaal
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Kit de Waal: ‘My Irish mother was rejected by my grandmother for having a baby with a black man'
Best known for her acclaimed debut novel My Name Is Leon, Kit de Waal's background as the child of an Irish mother and Caribbean father has always bled into her work. Growing up in Birmingham, England she had a largely absent father and a mother who converted from Catholicism to become a Jehovah's Witness when de Waal was five years old, after a woman knocked on the door to talk about the religion. 'She invited the woman in and the woman never really left' de Waal tells Roisin Ingle, on the latest episode of The Women's Podcast. She says religion gave her mother, who had undiagnosed mental health issues, an opportunity for redemption. 'My mother was rejected by my grandmother for having a baby with a black man … she felt herself in disgrace.' The Jehovah's Witness religion was a fresh start, a chance for 'forgiveness' de Waal explains. For the author and her four siblings, growing up with the religion was to have far reaching consequences. De Waal, now a successful author, hated books and reading as a child because she was forced to read the bible. She only read for pleasure for the first time in her twenties. De Waal and her siblings also believed, as preached by the Jehovah's Witness, that the world was going to end in 1975, this Armageddon prophecy meant in that year 'God was going to kill everyone who wasn't in the religion … and then Jehovah's Witnesses [would] proceed to make the earth a paradise'. READ MORE Throughout her childhood, de Waal firmly believed she would die as a fifteen-year-old and never get to turn 16. 'We all thought we would die … because only good Jehovah's Witnesses survived'. De Waal did not believe she was 'good'. She liked boys, she swore, smoked and stole money from her dad's trouser pocket. The religious-based sense of impending doom meant she never tried at school, thinking 'what's the point? I'm going to die.' She explored all of this in her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes. Writing it increased her compassion for her parents 'for them coming to England as immigrants being poor, not knowing the world, trying so hard to assimilate … I dedicated the book to them'. De Waal went on to develop an intense passion for literature and carved out a career in law which began without any formal training. It was only in her early forties that she decided to try writing. After many years of 'writing shite' and being sacked by her agent her debut My Name Is Leon, about a summer in the life of a 9-year-old mixed race boy, was eventually published to huge acclaim. 'I wrote it from the heart about a world I knew intimately … it came from the guts of me,' she says. Her beautiful and moving new novel, The Best of Everything, returns to the theme of belonging and also explores grief, infidelity, race, kindness and caring. She is currently writing a sequel to My Name Is Leon. Having become a first time novelist at the age of 56, De Waal who also works as a creative writing teacher, is an advocate for women making big moves in middle age. 'We aren't living in the 1960s where you got to 50 and you got out the beige polyester trousers with an elasticated waist, by the way there's nothing wrong with an elasticated waist. We live in a different world, we are allowed to have a third age, a second wind … it's never too late'. You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Telegraph
13-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
‘Jehovah's Witnesses told me I would die at 15 – so I didn't save for a pension'
Kit de Waal is an award-winning author who left school at 16. Her debut novel, My Name is Leon, was published when she was 56, and became a bestseller. It was turned into a TV movie for the BBC and is now on the GCSE English Literature syllabus. With her first advance, Kit set up a scholarship for writers from disadvantaged backgrounds. She has two adopted children and lives in Leamington Spa with her adult son. How did your childhood affect your attitude to money? My father was an African-Caribbean bus driver from St Kitts. He saved up all the money he had to go home to the West Indies. My Irish mother worked very, very menial jobs to make ends meet. Both of them gave the message that money was tight, hard to come by and not to be spent. What was your first proper job? I left home at 16 because my mother was a Jehovah's Witness – I didn't want to be involved in that any more. I worked as a secretary for Hoskins, a company that made hospital bedsteads and exported them to the Middle East. I filled out bills and export forms for £20.00 per week – it was crushingly boring. What impact did growing up as a Jehovah's Witness have? Jehovah's Witnesses believe in an imminent Armageddon. When I was a child, the appointed year was 1975, when I would be 15. Money – believed to be the root of all evil – would be dispensed in God's new paradise. He would provide food and housing and meaningful, mostly manual, employment. Although I stopped being a Jehovah's Witness when I was 16, a year after the appointed date, somewhere in the back of my mind I thought Armageddon might happen. I never really subscribed to the notion of a career, or even getting older. I'd never need a pension or critical illness cover. The rational side of my mind told me to get with the programme, but the indoctrination bit deep. I always suspected that there would be some kind of divine rescue from old age and poverty. I've had to force myself to take ageing seriously, to get a pension and provide for the inevitable. It hasn't been easy. Have you ever had trouble paying your bills? It's been tight, but I've never not paid my bills. I absolutely hate owing money. If there's a bill to pay, I will pay it that hour. I have a credit card, but I never use it. Which book has had the biggest financial impact? 'My Name is Leon' (published in 2016). It launched me and I got a big advance for a three-book deal. It's had the most incredible impact. After divorcing my partner (KC John de Waal) who earned all the money, it was a great confidence boost for me. It was like someone saying, 'Don't worry. You're OK.' What was your worst financial decision? Selling my first flat in Mosley, Birmingham. I bought it when I was 26, and it cost £31,000. When I got married at 34, I sold it for £48,000. It would probably be worth six times more now. What was your best financial decision? Buying the flat I now live in. After my divorce, I desperately wanted to move, but couldn't find anything. Then I walked into this flat and had to have it. It was a good emotional decision and happened to be a good financial decision. When I bought it five years ago, it had no garden. But there was a courtyard behind part of the building. It was hideous, but I found out who owned it and bought it off them for £8,000. I then spent £20,000 having it turned into a garden, just in time for lockdown. Are you good at managing money? When I got married at 34, the bills came through the post and I could see them. Then later, everything was direct debit, and I didn't know what the bills were any more as my husband took care of it. After my divorce, the admin of managing the money side of my life hit me like a tsunami. Although I had money, I just didn't know how to handle it. So I made a spreadsheet of every bill with reference numbers and account details, (water, energy, insurance, service charges, subscriptions, literally everything). I set up direct debits and made a brand new bank account that was strictly for bills and everything came out of that. These days, I always make sure it's got double what I need in it. Pension or property? I had a profound change in circumstances when I divorced. It wasn't an unfair settlement, but it did change my circumstances and it reinforced in me the sense that nothing is dependable and no one is coming to save you. I was 55 and had been relying on my husband's pension. I am now 64, and have since put money and time into both property and my own retirement fund. I still need to work, but I have two buy-to-let flats in Warwick which are ticking along and a very small pension. Are you a saver or spender? I used to be a spender. Having been deprived of heat, food and comfort as a child, I wanted all that and would buy it. I've since had to work really hard to overcome my natural tendency to (over) spend. It goes against my personality and it's been a slog, but I am cautious and scared of not meeting my obligations. I also have two children whom I want to leave money to. What do you like to splash out on? My son is a classic car mechanic and I would so desperately, desperately love a classic car – a Jenson Interceptor. In silver. That would be my splurge if I won the lottery. Otherwise, I splash out on pictures. And every time a book comes out, I treat myself. I love city breaks. Last year, I went to Seattle. I have a book out this month and haven't yet decided what the treat will be. It might be a city break or it might be a handbag. Does money make you happy? Sometimes, absolutely. When I set up the scholarship with Birkbeck University (for disadvantaged writers) after my first advance, many generous people contributed to it. What it told me was that, if you show this generosity and support, people will pile in. To me, that's what money is for: to be generous and allow other people to get involved. The Best of Everything by Kit De Waal published by Tinder Press is out now.
The Guardian
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kit de Waal to headline new festival celebrating women writers over 50
Writer Kit de Waal is set to headline a new UK festival celebrating writing by women over 50. Forthwrite festival, due to take place on 15 March in Brighton and 30 March in Crawley, will offer 'inspiring workshops and lively discussions with authors and publishing industry professionals', said organisers. In Crawley, de Waal will deliver a keynote speech and appear on a panel about how writers can get their work noticed alongside the authors Uju Asika and Nicola Williams. Novelists Dorothy Koomson and Eve Ainsworth will appear on a separate panel about persevering as a writer and overcoming rejection. Annie Garthwaite will give the keynote speech in Brighton, while Yvonne Bailey-Smith, the mother of Zadie Smith and author of The Day I Fell Off My Island, is due to speak on a panel of writers who published their debuts after 50. Other events include workshops on Toni Morrison's Beloved, run by author Katy Massey, and one on graphic novels, led by former comics laureate Hannah Berry. De Waal, who started writing in her mid-40s and whose books include My Name Is Leon, told non-profit organisation New Writing South 'festivals like Forthwrite are important because older women are all too often pigeonholed and stereotyped. 'People assume we are grandmothers, we are helping out with grandchildren, we are winding down, we are gardening, we are going to tea dances and wearing elasticated trousers. We might be all of those things and there's nothing wrong with any of them, but we are also fighters, powerful, assertive, active. 'We are single and happily childless, we are blissfully unattached and having great sex, we are taking no shit and no prisoners and we are claiming back some of the power we gave away in our younger years. And all of these things are what we are writing about and our stories are having more resonance than ever before.' Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion The festival is supported by Arts Council England and runs in partnership with New Writing South, with Crawley tickets subsidised by the local council. The Crawley events will take place at The Hawth theatre, while the Brighton talks will be held between Jubilee Library and The Old Courtroom.
