The grime artist has announced that he’ll be teaming up with Penguin Random House to launch the new venture #Merky Books. Rise Up: The #Merky Journey So Far will be the imprint’s first publication, landing on 1 November.
Announcing the news today (5 July), Stormzy detailed how his publishing imprint will aim to provide a new generation of young writers with a platform for their voices to be heard. The initiative will include a paid internship in 2019 and school competitions. Two to three books will be published each year.
His Instagram post reads: “We will be using this as a platform for young writers to become published authors, I know too many talented writers that don’t always have an outlet or a means to get their work seen and hopefully #Merky Books can now be a reference point for them to say ‘I can be an author’ and for that to be a realistic and achievable goal.”
“Reading and writing as a kid was integral to where I am today and I from the bottom of my heart can not wait to hear your stories, your poems, your novels, your sci-fis and then getting them out into the big wide world. Proper proud of this!” he added. “We’ll be doing school competitions, taking entries and submissions and looking for writers as well but I’ll keep you posted!”
Recently, Stormzy was the winner in the Pop category of the South Bank Sky Awards. The award was presented by Malorie Blackman, who Stormzy called a “phenomenal author and a childhood hero”. He stated online, “The Noughts & Crosses series are still my favourite books of all time and showed me just how amazing story-telling could be.”
This week, the MC paused his show at #Merky Festival to watch England’s penalty shootout on stage. Following the victorious goal, he celebrated with a performance of his Gang Signs & Prayer single Big For Your Boots.
Pre-order Rise Up: The #Merky Journey So Far here.
