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Hip-hop has long been the voice of the struggle – and Stormzy wants to pivot some of those stories from songs to literature. In his latest good deed, The London-based artist announced #Merky Books, a new imprint collaboration with Penguin Random House UK. In fitting fashion, the imprint’s first release will be a Stormzy book entitled Rise Up: The #Merky Journey So Far. #Merky’s site notes that the book will include “hundreds of never-before-seen photographs, annotated lyrics, and contributions from those closest to him.”
But #Merky isn’t just a vehicle for Stormzy. The company will be publishing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in two to three books per year in a bid to “form a home for a new generation of voices,” as the website states. In a recent Instagram post, Stormzy noted that, 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.”
Authors looking to make that a goal via #Merky will have to sit tight, as the site states that they won’t be accepting unsolicited submissions until a 2019 open submission competition for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The winner of that competition will receive a publishing contract with #Merky Books.
