Julia Kelly won the BPA 2021 First Novel Award, coming first out of more than 1,000 entries. She then signed with that year’s competition judge, literary agent Hellie Ogden. In 2024, Julia signed a six-figure publishing deal with the publishing house Harvill Secker. Her debut novel The Fisherman’s Gift comes out today, Thursday March 6, 2025. We caught up with Julia to congratulate her on her success and to find out more about the different stages that lead to publication, from winning a competition to celebrating her hardback release.

You signed with the 2021 BPA First Novel Award judge, literary agent Hellie Ogden. Can you tell us about the process. What’s it like working with your Hellie?

Working with Hellie is a dream. She is very hands-on editorially. With each draft I wrote, Hellie would respond using marginal notes and a general covering appraisal in an email. The marginal notes would be deletions, or more commonly questions, or occasionally (uncomfortably!) honest comments about whether a section was working. It was an incredible learning experience seeing the story develop. Hellie always understood my vision of the story – what she did was show me how to make that appear on the page.

Last year you signed a major six-figure publishing deal with Harvill Secker! Tell us what happened. How long were you on submission? What were your initial feelings?

We went on submission in November 2023. I was excited and nervous and very much prepared for a long wait. I was extraordinarily lucky as two days later we had our first expression of interest. A text message popped up on my phone and it was a screenshot from Hellie of an email from an editor. Everything it said resonated with me in terms of how I’d hoped the story would be read. Other expressions of interest followed quickly but instead of going to auction, Harvill Secker pre-empted and we accepted. That first expression of interest was from Liz Foley at Harvill Secker and it chimed so perfectly with me, that I was never in any doubt that I wanted to be published by them.

“Truly, wonderful competitions like this [The First Novel Award] can make dreams happen, and if it doesn’t, working to a deadline is highly motivating and great for experience.”

Your novel is set in 1900, in a Scottish fishing village in the weeks after a young boy mysteriously washes up on shore, bearing an uncanny resemblance to teacher Dorothy’s son, lost to the sea at the same age many years before. How did you tackle writing about an entirely different time period? Any advice to beginner writers of historical fiction?

I think you need to enjoy delving into the past and learning about history, places, people and different ways of life. It’s a strange process because only a fraction of the research you do goes into the book itself,  but it needs to be confident. You don’t want prose to be cluttered with historical details, but you do want a sketch that is convincing and hopefully accurate. I watched YouTube videos of fishermen and lobster creels, trawled museum websites, gazed at old photos of grocery shops – just anything that gave me a sense of how people lived.

Your novel has been described as “a moving, thought-provoking debut” with some difficult topics at its core, such as grief, loss and forgiveness. What compelled you to write about these specific topics?

I didn’t specifically set out to write about those things. As the story developed, I realised, however, that it was a story about maternal love and regret and the pressure we feel to be perfect mothers, and how easy it is to judge ourselves harshly. In this way, I very much wanted it to be a novel about a character forgiving herself and realising she had been a ‘good enough’ mother.

Why did you change the title (previously The Lost Child)? Can you tell us anything about that decision?

Ha! I don’t know anyone who has kept their title! Hellie felt – rightly – that The Lost Child had associations with the thriller genre, so a lot of finding the right title is positioning the book within its genre. We tried so many iterations but it was, I have to admit, Hellie’s idea to call it The Fisherman’s Gift, which I immediately loved.

UK Hardback Cover

US Hardback Cover

We have fallen in love with your book cover(s)! What was the process of choosing a cover? How involved were you in the process?

I love the cover too. I have – again – been extraordinarily lucky. The UK cover features a beautiful illustration by Scottish artist Bryn Angus and the US one an illustration by Chris Wormell. They are both so gorgeous. I was always asked for my opinion, but each version looked stunning to me so I was very much guided by the expertise and industry knowledge of Hellie and the wonderful team at Harvill Secker.

Our team was completely taken by your original submission when you entered the BPA First Novel Award. Do you have any advice for writers submitting this year?

Feel the fear and do it anyway! Write and rewrite. Read aloud. Give yourself time to send in your best work. Truly, wonderful competitions like this can make dreams happen, and if it doesn’t, working to a deadline is highly motivating and great for experience. Good luck!

We don’t talk much about everything an author is involved in between signing the deal and celebrating publication. Were there any highlights / low points for you?

I’ve been very fortunate – I have a wonderfully supportive and collaborative team here and in the US, as well as Hellie, and I can ask any of them anything. For instance, when I feel the jitters about how the book will land, or if there’s anything I don’t understand.

How will you be celebrating your publication day/week?

I am having a celebration at the weekend with family and friends but on the day? I might treat myself to…not writing!!

Looking forward, what next? Are you working on anything new? Anything you can tell us about?

I am currently wrestling with book 2! More to come soon, I hope!

You can order a copy of The Fisherman’s Gift here.

Check out this interview with Julia in the Guardian.

Julia has been longlisted for The Mslexia Novel Prize, The Exeter Novel Prize, Penguin WriteNow 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 from an early age and as an English teacher, has tried to pass on her love of stories to the next generation of readers and writers. Since becoming a wheelchair user, Julia appreciates even more the journeys the written word can take us on. She lives in Herefordshire with her partner and dog and between them, they have raised five wonderful children. THE FISHERMAN’S GIFT is her debut novel.

X: @juliarkelly2

Instagram: @jrkelly2