Kit de Waal books

Collections

Comma Singles Reading Order

Non-Fiction

Short Stories/Novellas

Standalone Novels

Kit de Waal grew up in Birmingham, the daughter of an Irish mother and a Caribbean father, and spent years working in criminal law and social services before turning to fiction. That background shows clearly in her work. My Name is Leon, her debut novel, drew on her professional knowledge of the care system to tell the story of a young boy separated from his baby brother, and it became one of the most praised British novels of the mid-2010s.

Beyond her novels, de Waal has been deeply involved in the short fiction world through Comma Press, contributing to and helping curate the Comma Singles series, a vast collection of individual short fiction pieces by writers from across Britain and beyond. She edited Supporting Cast, an anthology spotlighting working-class authors, and her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes (2022) reflects on her unusual childhood with candour and warmth.

Readers who want the full picture of her work will find it spread across her standalone novels, her novellas and short stories, her memoir, and her editorial projects. The novels can be read in any order, though My Name is Leon is the natural starting point for anyone new to her writing.