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Artist News
Stormzy launches book publishing imprint, announces book
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 6 July 2018
Stormzy is now a book publisher as a result of a new alliance with Penguin Random House’s William Heinemann division. #Merky Books will publish two to three titles a year and “form a home for a new generation of voices”.
The first voice of that new generation is, well, Stromzy himself, obviously. The first book to come out of the new imprint will be the rapper’s own ‘Rise Up’, which will be available for some quality reading from November. As well as Stormzy’s own words on, well, rising up I guess, it will also feature “never-before-seen photographs, annotated lyrics and contributions from those closest to him”. Good times.
Says the man himself: “When I was in school I fell in love with literature and looking back it’s safe to say that this was the start of a life-long journey with words, poetry and writing. I read books religiously and often wrote poems which were undeniably setting me up for a career as a songwriter and a rapper”.
He goes on: “We’ve created #Merky Books for many reasons. The first, simply, for it to be a reference point for talented young writers to say ‘I can be an author’, and for that to be a feasible and realistic achievement and not something in the distance. We hope this imprint will instill belief and ambition in young writers, making publishing seem less prohibitive and making the dream of being a published author a reality”.
“We want #Merky Books to be a source of confidence”, he adds, “and I look forward to publishing writers from all different walks of life, especially those who may have never had the opportunity to get into the industry so early”.
