Q&A with Kingfisher author, Rozie Kelly
Posted on April 15, 2025
We spoke to author, and winner of the 2024 NorthBound Book Award, Rozie Kelly about her debut novel Kingfisher.
What’s the best writing prompt you’ve received, and can you share a prompt with us?
I’m not sure if they count as prompts so much as mantras but I have two pieces of writing advice that swirl around my head constantly. The first is ‘don’t flinch’, which I first heard from Horatio Clare who stole it from Laura Barton who I think possibly got it from another author – so clearly it’s stuck for all of us. It reminds me that the emotional truth, and therefore, I think, the really good writing, tends to be in the difficult places. It also reminds me that writing is often uncomfortable, it requires a lot of work. I think it’s similar to exercise in that sense – you don’t get strong muscles without committing, and making yourself do it even when you’re tired and achy. The second came from Jeanette Winterson who taught me on my MA – ‘get your bum on the seat’. Sometimes half the battle is getting yourself to show up for the project. Once you’ve done that the rest will eventually follow.
When I began writing Kingfisher I wanted to see how it felt to write someone who never questioned whether he belonged anywhere, who could walk confidently into any room and take up space, because at the time I didn’t feel that way. I think a great character writing prompt is to try writing someone who is very different to yourself. Someone unkind or terribly shy, or very outgoing, or whatever that may be. Play around with their voice and then work backwards from there – what is it that makes them that way? What might their upbringing have been like, what might have happened to them, what privileges do they have or not have that inform their behaviour? It can be a lot of fun to inhabit someone different to yourself, but also a helpful exercise for understanding a character’s motivations.
Which authors inspire you to write?
How much time do you have? There are so many… if I think back to being a child and the books I loved it probably began with Roald Dahl – he showed me that it was okay to be a bit weird. As an adult above all it is Deborah Levy – something about her work just tickles my brain and makes me feel like I am overflowing with ideas. But so many – Maggie Nelson, Zadie Smith, Ocean Vuong, Jaqueline Woodson, James Baldwin, Gwendoline Riley, Lisa Halliday, K Patrick, Sophie Mackintosh, Melissa Broder, Marguerite Duras, Clarice Lispector, I could go on. I think the thing about all of those authors is that their writing is so singular, they are all doing something that feels very specific to them. And that they aren’t afraid to take risks in their work.
Do you have a favourite place to write?
I have a beautiful study that I spent ages decorating to make into the perfect writing space. And I do precisely zero writing there. I am very easily distracted but also find it difficult to write without noise and activity around me, so unfortunately for my bank balance I do a lot of writing in cafes. Or on the sofa, under a blanket, with terrible posture.
Which character from Kingfisher would you like to go to dinner with?
I love this question! It would be Jessica, without a doubt. She would take me somewhere painfully cool but would find the whole thing hilarious and spend the night mimicking all the pretentious people. We’d eat piles of delicious food, get ridiculously drunk and she’d make me tell her all my secrets. I think Jessica is possibly the only truly decent person in this novel – she does so much to show love to the other characters, and to teach the protagonist how to love others and how to love himself.
What would you like readers to take away from Kingfisher?
Anything they like! One of the strange and exciting things about writing a book, I’m discovering, is that after a point it doesn’t belong to you anymore. A reader’s experience of a book is so subjective, and that’s a thrill for me. I only hope to illicit strong reactions. If people hate it, I want them to absolutely despise it. I’ve written quite a difficult protagonist, and although I’m fond of him I can totally understand why someone might want to shake him! If they love it, I hope they are touched by the grief and love and pain in the people I’ve written about. I’ve done my best to make sure those emotions come from a raw and honest place, so if that chimes with people I’ll be overjoyed.
Rozie Kelly is a prose writer based in West Yorkshire. After reading English Literature and Creative Writing she moved to Hebden Bridge, where she works for the Arvon Foundation, hosting creative writing courses. She was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2023 and is one of the eight participants in the inaugural Prototype Development Programme, which offers extended support and career development to emerging writers and artists. She won the 2024 NorthBound Book Award for Kingfisher, her debut novel, and available now!
