Stormzy has announced the first independent title to be released under his publishing imprint #Merky Books will tackle diversity.
Stormzy
The 'Blinded By Your Grace' hitmaker has revealed the second book 'Taking Up Space' to drop under his project - in which he's collaborated with Penguin Random House - will "shake culture" when it becomes available in June 2019.
Taking to his Instagram account, the 25-year-old rapper said: "Oi I'm sooooo gassed to announce the 2nd book that will be released on our #MERKY Books w/ Penguin - "Taking Up Space" written by the PHENOMENAL Chelsea Kwakye (@chelseakwakye) & Ore Ogunbiyi (@oreogunbiyi) - these 2 girls are incredible and this book is going to shake culture trust me, please follow them and also @takingupspacebook more details and information to come soon!! PRE ORDER LINK IS IN MY BIO!!! So make sure you pre order guys (sic)"
Chelsea and Ore wrote the book to encourage "honest conversations" about diversity and inclusion among young black girls at university and hope their experiences will provide comfort to those going through the schooling process.
In a joint statement, they said "Diversity and inclusion have become buzzwords, especially in education, but it is time that we had honest conversations about what those two words truly mean, especially for young black girls.
"Through our stories and the experiences of past and present university students, this book seeks to fill the gap of often incomplete conversations about widening participation and inclusion at university.
"It will be the book that we wish we had before going into university and we hope it provides a comfort to those who will inevitably share our experiences."
Stormzy launched the initiative with the publishing company in July as he wanted to create a platform for young people to have a voice.
He said on Instagram at the time: "Super proud to announce our new venture #Merky Books, a publishing imprint in collaboration with Penguin Random House @penguinukbooks. 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."
The rapper said the imprint would search high and low for potential authors including through school competitions and submissions.
He explained: "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! We'll be doing school competitions, taking entries and submissions and looking for writers as well but I'll keep you posted! #Merky Books will also be offering a paid internship in 2019! The first book to be released under the imprint will be "Rise Up: The #Merky Journey So Far" out November 1st and available for pre order now (sic)"
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