My guest today is debut author, Julia Kelly. Julia is going to talk to us about her writing journey and her new book. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Julia.
Bio
Julia Kelly has been longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Prize, the Exeter Novel Prize, PenguinWriteNow, and the Bath Novel Award. In 2021 she won the Blue Pencil First Novel Award. Having grown up in a house without television, Julia read anything she could lay her hands on, and as an English teacher, she has tried to pass on her love of stories to the next generation of readers and writers. Since becoming a wheelchair-user, Julia has learned to appreciate even more fully the journeys the written word can take us on. She lives in Herefordshire with her partner and between them, they have raised five wonderful children. The Fisherman’s Gift is her debut novel.
Contact links: Instagram: @jrkelly2
Welcome to my blog, Julia. Congratulations on your debut novel being published this year. Can you tell us about your writing journey?
Like many writers, I had a few novels under my belt, gathering dust in virtual drawers. I’d loved writing them, entered them into competitions, and been encouraged by some long and short listings. Then at the beginning of lockdown 2020, the idea for The Fisherman’s Gift came to me one morning before meeting my writing group on Zoom. It landed all at once in my head and I can remember how excited I felt about it, and how my group did, too, when I shared it.
Of course, actually writing a new and exciting idea is a whole different ball game but I made a start, but was quickly held up by health issues (I am disabled and have a chronic illness), as well as a spell of depression and only got as far as 5000 words. In 2021 I picked it up again, and tried to develop it, this time under the aegis of Cornerstones’ Elevate programme for underrepresented writers, where I worked with the wonderful Monica Chakraverty. Although I was still struggling with depression, her belief in me and the story was so encouraging and so I entered my fledgling work into the Blue Pencil Award First Novel Prize in May.
It was utterly thrilling to progress from the longlist to the shortlist and then to have my work judged by the exceptional Hellie Ogden, as well as Kiran Millwood-Hargave and the judges at BPA. I won the prize, but then further riches came, when Hellie offered me representation. I will never forget the email she sent me and how it changed my life. I had written about 20,000 words of The Fisherman’s Gift by then, so her faith at this point was everything. I was still teaching, with a family at home, and my ongoing health challenges, but writing forward knowing I had an agent was a huge motivation to carry on and complete the novel, especially with Hellie’s fantastic editorial involvement.
It took two years to finish the novel! But in the autumn of 2023 we finally went on submission. Within a couple of days I started to get interest and – even with yet another bout of covid – it was one of the most exciting periods of my life. A week after submission, we were preparing for an auction, when Harvill Secker (now Harvill Books) pre-empted and we accepted. Other offers, from US and Europe followed quickly. It really was completely thrilling.
The Fisherman’s Gift was published in UK on 6th March this year, and in the US on 18th. I have retired on medical grounds now, and it still seems almost unbelievable to me, that I am now writing and editing my second novel with the wonderful Liz Foley as my editor, Hellie still as my agent and with so much to look forward to.
How wonderful, Julia. Congratulations on your success. And on persevering when you are coping with disability and other health issues. This is such an inspiring story.
Julia’s Book
The sea stole him from her. Could it bring him back?
The spellbinding story of a lost boy, a tragic love affair and a seafaring community’s buried secrets finally coming to light.
Winter, 1900. A little boy washes up on the beach of a small fishing village in Scotland, barely alive. He bears an uncanny resemblance to teacher Dorothy’s son, lost to the sea many years before.
When the village is snowed in, Dorothy agrees to look after the child until he can be returned home. But, as the past rises to meet the present, long-buried secrets in this tight-knit community start to come to light. And Dorothy finds herself thrown together again with the reclusive fisherman Joseph, after years of keeping their distance…
Buy link: Amazon
Karen King 