Candice Carty-Williams is a British writer, best known for her 2019 bestselling debut novel, Queenie, which was bought by Orion after a four-way bidding war between publishers. She has written for publications including The Guardian, i-D, Vogue, The Sunday Times, BEAT Magazine, and Black Ballad, and is a contributor to the anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby. At the British Book Awards in June 2020 Carty-Williams became the first black female to win the "Book of the Year" accolade, for her novel Queenie.
Biography
Early life and education
Candice Carty-Williams was born in St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster, and grew up in South London, living at various times in Croydon, Clapham, Streatham, Ladywell and Lewisham. Her mother is of Jamaican-Indian heritage and her Jamaican father had come to Britain at the age of 16 and worked as a cab driver. Carty-Williams has said of her parents: "Neither of them are readers, though my dad does have thousands of records, which is maybe where I get my love of collecting things from. My grandparents were all born in Jamaica, as were my great-grandparents with the exception of my grandad, who was born in India." She has said: "Growing up I never felt I could write.... Writing is something I came to really late and I guess I’m still finding my confidence because I never thought it was an attainable career." She studied for a degree in communication and media studies at the University of Sussex, after which she decided to try to enter the publishing industry.
Publishing career
Internships with Melville House, 4th Estate and William Collins led to her being employed in 2014 as marketing assistant at the HarperCollins imprint 4th Estate, with promotion to marketing executive in 2015. While in this job she became aware of the underrepresentation of BAME authors and writers in publishing, so she created the Guardian and 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize, which aimed to offer assistance towards publishing or literary agent representation. In September 2016 she joined Vintage, where she was senior marketing executive and was also a mentor on the Penguin Books "Write Now" scheme, eventually leaving the imprint in May 2019.
''Queenie''
In 2017, her first novel, Queenie, was the subject of an auction between four publishers and was eventually acquired for a six-figure sum by Orion. Published in 2019, the novel is about the "life and loves of Queenie Jenkins, a vibrant, troubled 25-year-old Jamaican Brit who is not having a very good year"', and although it was marketed as "a black Bridget Jones", Carty-Williams herself said in an interview in Stylist magazine: "That's how I thought of her in the beginning, too. But this book is also naturally political just because of who Queenie is. She's not Bridget Jones. She could never be." Speaking on CBS Local, Carty-Williams further explained: "It's such a personal story, but it is one that is universal as well....It's not autobiographical, but it’s themes that I've borrowed from my life and my friends' lives." Queenie received much positive critical attention, described by reviewers as both a "smart and breezy comic debut" and "astutely political, an essential commentary on everyday racism" According to Diana Evans, Queenie is an "important political tome of black womanhood and black British life, a rare perspective from the margins", and Afua Hirsch wrote in Time magazine: "Carty-Williams has taken a black woman’s story and made it a story of the age". On the paperback publication of Queenie in February 2020, Kate Saunders wrote in The Times: "This is a funny, clever, heartbreaking lightning bolt of a first novel, by a writer bristling with talent." Queenie entered the Sunday Times Bestseller hardback chart at number two, went on to win the Blackwell's Debut Book of the Year 2019 award and was shortlisted as Book of the Year by Waterstones, Foyles and Goodreads, as well as being runner-up for the Costa First Novel Award. It has been announced that Carty-Williams is adapting the novel for Channel 4. At the British Book Awards in June 2020 Queenie won the Book of the Year category, while Bernardine Evaristo was chosen as Author of the Year, making them the first black authors to win the top prizes. Carty-Williams commented that while she was proud to have won the accolade, "I'm also sad and confused that I'm the first black AND female author to have won this award since it began." She also stated: "Overall, this win makes me hopeful that although I'm the first, the industry are waking up to the fact that I shouldn't and won't be the last."
Other writing
Carty-Williams has written for publications including The Guardian, i-D, Vogue, The Sunday Times, Refinery29, BEAT Magazine, and Black Ballad, and contributed an essay to the anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby. It was announced on 7 January 2020 that Carty-Williams had been appointed the new weekly books columnist of The Guardian, with her first piece for the newspaper in this role appearing on 11 January. She is a contributor to Dear NHS, edited by Adam Kay, an anthology of personal stories from famous people about how they have been helped by the National Health Service.
