We asked best-selling author and Forthwrite Festival Keynote Speaker, Kit de Waal about her writing and publication journey.
With rousing talks from best-selling authors, the festival takes place over two days, in Brighton and Crawley. Expect inspiring workshops, lively discussions with authors, publishers and industry professionals.
Kit will be giving the key note speech in Crawley on 30 March and speaking on the How to Get Your Work Noticed panel.
What age were you when you first got published?
I didn’t start writing until I was in my mid 40’s. I never wanted to be a writer when I was a child.
Which woman writer inspires you and why?
The woman writer that inspires me is Toni Morrison. She was wise, fearless and never compromised what she wanted to say or who she said it to.
What do you feel is important about hearing older women writers?
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.
What advice would you give to a woman writer over 50 who is looking to get published for the first time?
The advice I would give an older women trying to get published is to network and find an agent or a publisher that really gets you. Also trust your instincts.
Could you tell us about your upcoming book?
The Best of Everything is the story of Paulette whom we first meet when she is 29 and desperate for marriage and children. As often happens, life throws her a curve ball and despite her best efforts she is constantly having to recalibrate what she wants and who from all the while trying to stay true to herself. It’s a story about the power of kindness against the odds.
How does your background, career and life experience influence your writing and the way you approach it?
My background and my life and career bleeds into everything I do and everything I write. I am a product of being the child of two immigrant parents, of being brought up in poverty, of a grammar school education that I left at 15 and having experienced immense kindness and fortune. I hope that I bring of all these things to bear whenever I have something to say about life.
Kit de Waal is a key note speaker and panelist at Forthwrite Festival: a celebration of women writers over 50.
Find out more about Forthwrite Festival and get your ticket.