Kerry Hudson
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Kerry Hudson is currently not accepting proofs, review copies or books from publishers.
Biography: Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Growing up in a succession of council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks provided her with a keen eye for idiosyncratic behaviour, material for life, and a love of travel.
Her first novel, TONY HOGAN BOUGHT ME AN ICE-CREAM FLOAT BEFORE HE STOLE MY MA (Chatto & Windus), was published in July 2012 and was shortlisted for eight literary prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award and Green Carnation Prize, and won Scottish First Book of the Year. Kerry's second novel, THIRST, was developed with support from the National Lottery through an Arts Council England grant, and published by Chatto in July 2014 before being shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. Her first work of non-fiction, LOWBORN (2019) became a Times bestseller and was hailed as ‘One of the most important books of the year’ by the Guardian. A follow-up to LOWBORN, entitled NEWBORN, was published in February 2024.
Published in France as La Couleur de L'eau by Editions Philippe Rey, translated by Florence Lévy-Paolini, THIRST was the winner of prestigious literary prize, Prix Femina Etranger 2015, going on to become a bestseller in France. It was also shortlisted for the European Strega prize in Italy, after being published there as SETE, by Minimum Fax.
Kerry also wrote the script for HANNAH, which was broadcast on BBC Four, starring Emma Fryer, as part of SKINT, a series of seven 15-minute monologues tackling the subject of poverty in the UK. HANNAH tells the story of a mother who is trying to do the best for her child whilst facing homelessness.
Kerry writes for various publications including The New York Times, Guardian, Big Issue, Press and Journal, and The Herald. In 2022 she was nominated for Columnist of the Year in the Regional Press Awards. In 2020, Kerry was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
‘Hudson avoids the usual sentimental clichés and gives us the hope and tough warmth for which she has such a sharp eye.’ — The Guardian
‘Kerry Hudson's fantastic debut shook readers and critics from the cushy, Booker-induced, middle-class coma of the preceding years. And her second book, THIRST, delivers on the promise of that wonderful first novel’ — The List
‘Hudson writes with charm and perception about seeking solace in a dog-eat-dog world.’ — The Independent
NEWBORN
Memoir, 256pp, Chatto & Windus, 1st February 2024
In Newborn, prizewinning writer Kerry Hudson navigates trying to build a nourishing, safe and loving family - without a blueprint to work from.
Kerry Hudson is celebrated for her emotionally and politically powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her books and journalism have changed the conversation and touched countless lives.
In this new book she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers? What hope is there of creating a different life for herself, let alone future generations? We see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight -- and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life -- win through and light her path.
Newborn is a beautiful, empowering memoir about creating a family in the midst of chaos, and learning new ways to find happiness. It continues the journey Kerry started in her bestselling memoir Lowborn, illuminating her experiences of becoming a mother, reshaping her future and reclaiming her identity.
Memoir, 336pp, Chatto & Windus, 2nd May 2019
Kerry Hudson is proudly working class but she was never proudly poor. The poverty she grew up in was all-encompassing, grinding and often dehumanising. Always on the move with her single mother, Kerry attended nine primary schools and five secondaries, living in B&Bs and council flats. She scores eight out of ten on the Adverse Childhood Experiences measure of childhood trauma.
Twenty years later, Kerry’s life is unrecognisable. She’s a prizewinning novelist who has travelled the world. She has a secure home, a loving partner and access to art, music, film and books. But she often finds herself looking over her shoulder, caught somehow between two worlds.
LOWBORN is Kerry’s exploration of where she came from, revisiting the towns she grew up in to try to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed. She also journeys into the hardest regions of her own childhood, because sometimes in order to move forwards we first have to look back.
THIRST
Contemporary Fiction, 336pgs
Chatto, July 2014
Dave and Alena meet in the frayed heat of a London high summer where she's up to no good and it's his job to catch her. So begins an unlikely relationship between two people with secrets, they've no idea how to live with -- or leave behind. But despite everything they still find themselves fighting with all they've got for a future together.
TONY HOGAN BOUGHT ME AN ICE CREAM FLOAT BEFORE HE STOLE MY MA
Literary/Contemporary Fiction, 272 pages, Chatto & Windus, 2012
The story of Janie Ryan's Scottish childhood: filthy council flats and B&Bs, screeching women, feckless men, fags and booze and drugs, the dole queue and bread and marge sandwiches. Arrestingly original -- and cry-out-loud funny.