One of the Midlands best loved novelists and champion of women and working-class writers, Kit de Waal returns to the festival this year to talk about her latest novel, The Best of Everything. The novel follows its protagonist Paulette, who has her future all mapped out until she meets Garfield, finds herself pregnant and commits to giving her son the best of everything. In the meantime, she becomes increasingly preoccupied by a motherless boy across the street in a story that examines the meaning of kindness, found family and the way love can unexpectedly alter the course of one’s life.

Join Kit for a conversation about her novel, her work as a literary activist and centring the Midlands in her stories.

Chaired by Anna Metcalfe.

Sponsored by Aston University