Stormzy has said he hopes authors who do not have “an outlet or a means to get their work seen” will take inspiration from his publishing imprint as he launched the second year of the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize. The prize aims to discover unpublished, under-represented writers aged 16-30 from the UK and Ireland and the winner or winners will receive a publishing contract with #Merky Books, an imprint within Penguin Random House UK. During its inaugural year in 2019, the competition received more than 1200 fiction, non-fiction and poetry submissions from young, unpublished writers. The longlist will be announced on December 14, the shortlist on February 5 2021, and the winner in March 2021. As well as the publishing contract, the winner will also win the chance write a Literally essay to feature on WePresent in spring 2021.

Source: Irish Independent September 14, 2020 09:56 UTC