Big Debuts: Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Rozie Kelly

Join us for an in-conversation event, bringing together two celebrated new voices in contemporary literary fiction —Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Rozie Kelly — chaired by writer and editor, Billy Lindon.

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin’s moving debut Ordinary Saints, explores religion, love, loss and finding home in queer community with nuance, humour and intellect, Ordinary Saints was shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. 

Rozie Kelly’s frank and feisty debut novel Kingfisher won the 2024 NorthBound Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Rozie brings a distinct perspective on contemporary storytelling to her tale of queer love and friendship.

In this event, Niamh and Rozie will explore the craft of writing literary fiction, the experience of publishing a debut, and how they navigate themes of queer identity, faith, and nature within their work.

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin was the winner of the inaugural PFD Queer Fiction Prize and was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize Trust Discoveries Prize in 2022. Her début literary novel Ordinary Saints was shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.

Rozie Kelly is a novelist based in West Yorkshire, where she works for the Arvon Foundation. She was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2023 and was one of the eight participants in the inaugural Prototype Development Programme 2024. Her debut novel Kingfisher (Saraband, 2025) won the 2024 NorthBound Book Award and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026.

Billy Lindon (chair) is an author and editor living in London. Billy has published three joyful queer romcoms under various names: Double Booked, My Own Worst Enemy and Couple Goals. They also work as a fiction Editor, acquiring women’s fiction at HarperCollins. Previously at Vintage (Penguin Random House) they published the Diaries of Lou Sullivan and The Love Letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. You can also find them hosting the Queer Joy podcast and through their silly Substack, Tidbits.