Candice Carty-Williams: 'People feel very attached to Queenie'

One question Carty‑Williams has spent years deflecting is whether she is Queenie. Her bestselling debut follows Queenie Jenkins, a twenty‑something south London journalist navigating heartbreak, racism, terrible men and a sense that life is slipping out of control.

Sitting in her bright pink Peckham office at 36, she is warm, quick‑witted and disarmingly casual; "I find Queenie quite annoying actually," she laughs. Released in 2019 with the tagline "the Black Bridget Jones" — a phrase Carty‑Williams coined — Queenie sold more than half a million copies, won book of the year at the British book awards in 2020 (making her the first Black writer to win) and was adapted for television by Channel 4.

Carty‑Williams credits its reach to relatability. "I think she's just a drama queen," she says.

United Kingdom, Peckham

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