Latest news with #MyNameIsLeon
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.
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
On my radar: Kit de Waal's cultural highlights
Born in Birmingham in 1960, Mandy Theresa O'Loughlin is better known as author Kit de Waal. After a career as a magistrate specialising in adoption and foster care, she studied creative writing at Oxford Brookes University. Her debut novel, My Name Is Leon, was published in 2016, winning the Kerry Group Irish novel of the year award. De Waal, who chairs this year's judging panel for the Women's prize for fiction, is a fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, where she set up a scholarship for writers from marginalised backgrounds. Her latest book, The Best of Everything, is out now (Tinder Press. Dr Strangelove, Noël Coward theatre This was just extraordinary. Steve Coogan, who played Dr Strangelove and three other characters, has such stage presence that you don't notice it's a translation. You think of him as a comedian, but he's a really, really good actor. It's not the same as the film, but it translates very well. The set was incredible. Obviously, there are resonances between what's going on now and Dr Strangelove. It's cleverly done – a brilliant production. Sean Foley, who adapted and directed it, is a genius. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches, Compton Verney, Warwickshire Compton Verney is a beautiful art gallery. At the moment it's displaying this unusual 17th-century painting: often you've got a white woman next to a black woman, but the black woman is subservient. This is one of the few paintings where both women are the same size and position. They're wearing these little spots of paper in the shape of a sun, moon and stars. They were a vanity thing: 'Oh, look at me. I look fabulous.' They look very strange, in fact – like when a man has shaved and he's got a bit of toilet paper on his face. Scott Matthews I recently went to see Scott Matthews, a folk singer I absolutely adore. He has won an Ivor Novello award but he's very under the radar. I've probably seen him five times. He's a sign writer by trade, so a friend of mine got him to write out the lyrics to my favourite song of his, calligraphy style. It's called Mona, which was the inspiration for my second novel: it's about a woman who doesn't come home, and it's about yearning. His music's fantastic, but the lyrics are extraordinary. I think the only person who has lyrics as good is Joni Mitchell. Paris Noir, Centre Pompidou At the weekend I'm going to Paris, and I can't wait. This is an exhibition of 150 black artists in France from 1950 to 2000, tracing their influence on French life, Paris and the international scene. I saw that it was coming and I couldn't have got tickets any faster. I think it's great to have something dedicated to black art at such a prestigious venue. I really applaud them for doing that. The work being showcased in the publicity material looked incredible. Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto by Candlelight, St Mary le Strand, London I go to hear this at least once a year – it's my favourite piece of music. I call it the theme music to Brief Encounter, which is probably a bit of an insult. It's a wonderful pairing of music and film: it speaks about sadness and deep love. I first saw the film when I was 18, and since then I can't bear to just hear one of the three movements. If ever I put it on, I make sure I've got 33 minutes to myself, so I can hear the whole thing. Whitby Abbey Last weekend, I went to Whitby and took the 199 steps up to Whitby Abbey to see where Bram Stoker got the inspiration for Dracula. It's very beautiful, atmospheric. I can absolutely see why he got the idea for a vampire from there. It's a gothic ruin on the top of a hill, overlooking the sea. It's black stone. While he was waiting for his wife to join him in Whitby, he found a book that talked about this count in Romania who used to kill his enemies with a stake through the heart, and he just put two and two together.
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal review – a warm story of second starts
Paulette, the protagonist of Kit de Waal's latest novel, isn't perfect: she can be judgmental and stubborn; she often speaks sharply; and she probably drinks too much Appleton rum. But De Waal's candid narration makes it difficult not to love her. The Best of Everything is the Birmingham-born author's sixth book and her first novel for adults since 2018's The Trick to Time. She made her name with her 2016 debut, My Name Is Leon, which established her as a writer full of heart. We meet Paulette, who came to Britain from St Kitts as a child, when she is 29. It's the 1970s and she is an auxiliary nurse. For work she wears 'shoes so sensible they could pass A-level maths'. At home she's desperately in love with Denton, whose 'smell is pure man – sweat, soap and sex'. That's until the worst happens: he is killed in a car crash. Worse still, after his death Paulette learns he has a wife and children he hadn't told her about. All of this happens disconcertingly rapidly, at the beginning. Then, within a page, Paulette is living with Denton's best friend, with whom she has a son called Bird. This is the backdrop to the core relationships Paulette forms in this tale: with Frank, the man who killed Denton in the crash, and Frank's grandson, Nellie, who is about Bird's age and doesn't have a mother of his own. De Waal's tone is warm and wise. She has a knack for the small charming moment, such as when Frank and Nellie arrive late for Christmas dinner at Paulette's. When she opens the door, Frank is wearing oven gloves and holding out a cake tin, which he quickly withdraws. 'Rather too hot at the moment,' he says. 'We had to wait for it to be cooked. We timed it but may have been somewhat over-optimistic.' It's equal parts sitcom material and – when you know that this tie-wearing old man is single-handedly bringing up his grandchild – also devastating. De Waal is funny too, especially when she inhabits Paulette's consciousness and her character's Caribbean inflections become more pronounced. When her friends try to console her after Denton's death, we get: 'Them with their side-eye. Them with their cleverness … how two and two always makes four but Paulette can't count.' You can just see her rolling her eyes. Paulette's tenderness towards Frank and Nellie feels unrealistic at first, while her outbursts elsewhere seem unjustified. But, as she eases herself out of her protective shell, we come to learn that this is a book about forgiveness. And by seeing De Waal's protagonist change some of her ways, we realise that we shouldn't have been so quick to judge her either. The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal is published by Tinder Press (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
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.
