Rozie Kelly
Rozie Kelly
is a novelist 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 was one of the eight participants in the inaugural Prototype Development Programme 2024. She won the 2024 NorthBound Book Award for Kingfisher, her debut novel.
Rep: Charlotte Seymour, Johnson and Alcock.
Instagram: @rozeamee
Author photo credit: Harvey Williams-Fairley.
Kingfisher
by Rozie Kelly
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Buy Kingfisher
She smelled like jasmine. No, not exactly. She smelled like the earth beneath a jasmine plant on a hot day.
Most of us are poets, she said. It’s just a question of how it comes out.
When a creative writing academic becomes infatuated with his colleague – the poet – it is not long before it begins to threaten his relationship with his partner, Michael. Michael is beautiful. Michael is safe. But the poet is everything he isn’t; she has everything he wants.
While he writes about steel and sex, she dreams about the movements of swallows. While he tends to his budding career, she writes from her big, white house in the woods. As he slips between his old life and this new one, his fixation grows into something more powerful. The poet, his Kingfisher, is his sole focus. He is hypnotised.
But when simultaneous illnesses threaten to destroy the precarious reality he clings to, he’s forced to question what he can and cannot take from someone. This is a novel about grief, power and desire – and the tangles in between that make up a life.
REVIEWS OF Kingfisher
“With lyrical, observational style prose that drew me in from the first page, this is a short debut that packs a punch… Rozie Kelly is a stunning new voice in fiction.” The Debut Digest
“Kelly may be writing in the same lane as the likes of Rooney and Levy, but she is a confident voice in her own right, and handles grief, power, and desire with deftness. The attractive prose typical of literary fiction, and indeed seen in this novel, often creates more vibe than substance, but not in the case of Kingfisher, a story that stings with realism.” nb. magazine
“A tenderly written meditation on art, love and life that’s as much about the search for self as for connection.” Marie Claire, editor’s pick
"Kelly excels" The Telegraph
“… Bound for success” The Yorkshire Post
“With sharp, witty dialogue and richly developed characters, this book captivates from the very first page. … A compelling exploration of human nature with an unforgettable voice.” Northern Life Magazine (The Best Northern Books to Read in Spring 2025)
“Kelly observes relationships and their intricate power dynamics with precision and grace. This sublime novel is skilful in the extreme, balancing brutality and care with the deftest touch." The Bookseller, Ten Titles Not To Miss In April
“An unmissable debut, a beautifully crafted story of relationship dynamics and how we reconstruct and find ourselves within them. Kelly writes about love, grief and longing in a beautifully lyrical prose that's both devastating and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what she does next.” Ania Card, author of Above Us the Sea
