Kerry Hudson

Kerry Hudson’s deliciously titled Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma was inspired by the council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks she grew up in as a child. In an interview with Lloyd Paige, Hudson divulges that ‘a life on the margins doesn’t always mean a marginalised life.’ She aimed to reveal ‘the love, laughter, colour and courage that can be found on our less salubrious British streets.’

The story traces irrepressible Aberdonian heroine Janie Ryan, brought into a world of screeching women, feckless men, fags and booze and drugs, the dole queue and bread-and-marge sandwiches. Told in an arrestingly original – and cry-out-loud funny – voice, Tony Hogan launches itself headlong into the middle of one of life’s great fights, between the pull of the past and the freedom of the future.

Hudson has received support from the National Lottery through an Arts Council England grant to begin work on her second novel Thirst, which she works on from her home in Hackney.

Visit Kerry Hudson’s website here.