Kit De Waal: ‘Donal Ryan is so good he made me think I’d have to stop writing’

Kit De Waal is one of my favourite people in the book world, both on the page and in person. She’s the British/Irish author of My Name Is Leon (made into a recent BBC TV series), The Trick to Time, and her recent wonderful memoir Without Warning And Only Sometimes — about growing up in 1960s Birmingham with a mother from Wexford and a father from St Kitts. She is one of the most important advocates for working-class representation in writing both here and in the UK. She’s also got great taste in reading — I spoke to her a few weeks ago about some of her favourite books for this week’s Shelf Analysis.

Kit De Waal chooses her favourite books for Rick O’Shea’s Shelf Analysis: ‘Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro, ‘The Thing About December’ by Donal Ryan, and ‘Apricots on the Nile: A Memoir With Recipes’ by Colette Rossant Kit De Waal. Photo: Justin David Kit De Waal is one of my favourite people in the book world, both on the page and in person. She’s the British/Irish author of My Name Is Leon (made into a recent BBC TV series), The Trick to Time , and her recent wonderful memoir Without Warning And Only Sometimes — about growing up in 1960s Birmingham with a mother from Wexford and a father from St Kitts.

She is one of the most important advocates for working-class representation in writing both here and in the UK. She’s also got great taste in reading — I spoke to her a few weeks ago about some of her favourite books for this week’s Shelf Analysis. Your first choice is Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — why?.