Rose Amelia Kelly (born 1988/1989), known professionally as Rozie Kelly, is an English novelist. Her debut novel Kingfisher (2025) was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
Early life Kelly was born in Oxford. Kelly returned to education at age 27. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature from the University of Warwick. She then completed a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing at the University of Manchester in 2020.
Career Kelly began her post-MA career working for the Arvon Foundation. An extract from Kelly's work-in-progress Salt Tooth was shortlisted for the 2023 PFD Queer Fiction Prize in the Adult category. That summer, Kelly was selected for Protoype Publishing's 2024 inaugural Development Programme. Kelly's short story "The Woman Who Turner into a Jellyfish" received the 2025 Aurora Prize for Writing's Third Prize in the Short Fiction category.
The manuscript for Kelly's debut novel Kingfisher won the 2024 NorthBound Book Award. Through the prize, Saraband Book acquired the rights to publish the novel in 2025. Kingfisher was shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Personal life After completing her MA, Kelly moved to Hebden Bridge.
Bibliography Kingfisher (2025)
Accolades +YearAwardCategoryTitleResult 2023 PFD Queer Fiction Prize Adult Salt Tooth 2024 NorthBound Book Award Kingfisher 2025 Aurora Prize for Writing Short Fiction "The Woman Who Turned into a Jellyfish" 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction Kingfisher
References