Her debut novel, My Name is Leon, was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2017. Born in Birmingham to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, de Waal writes about characters who live on the fringes of society and would like to see more working class voices in literature and publishing. Last year she edited the journal Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers, a collection of narratives written in celebration, not apology, of the working class experience. The anthology includes established authors such as Malorie Blackman and Louise Doughty but also unknown voices to whom de Waal was keen to give a platform. "These are writers who have been working hard on their craft for many years but haven’t been able to get published because of their class, lack of contacts or because they live outside of London and the industry excludes them," she explains.