Rozie Kelly for her Woman's Prize Shortlisted novel: Kingfisher

'A gentle and compassionate novel that explores the nuances of queer love and friendship.' Derek Owusu, The Guardian

Shortlisted for the Woman's Prize in 2026, Kingfisher by Rosie Kelly has been a favourite read of many a bookseller in the early months of 2026. It is with great joy that we can announce that she will be joining us this July to celebrate this magnificent debut.

The conversation will be chaired by ever-brilliant Dan Richards, author of Overnight.

We hope to see you there!

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.

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.

Dan Richards is the co-author of Holloway (with Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood), and the author of The Beechwood Airship Interviews, Climbing Days, Outpost and Overnight. Only After Dark, a BBC Radio 4 series about the nocturnal world, was broadcast to acclaim in 2022. Dan has written for the New York Times, Guardian, Economist and Esquire.