The #Merky Books Literature festival, set up by the publishing imprint founded by musician Stormzy, will “hopefully be the spark that lights the imagination, the curiosity and the aspirations” of those who might not previously have considered a career in the creative arts, says author Malorie Blackman.
The two-day event, held on 22 and 23 April at the Roundhouse in London, aims to demystify the creative industries and will involve new voices as well as established names such as Blackman, who closes the festival with an in-conversation event with broadcaster Vick Hope.
“There’s a lot of people who still feel that you either have to have a whole spider’s network of connections, or you have to have parents with deep pockets to get a foot in the door,” says Blackman. “And while that does help in every industry, I think it’s not the only way in. I think that’s an incredibly important message to get out there.”
The headline event on the first day of the festival will be about expanding creativity, and will be a conversation between author and musician Wretch 32, award-winning poet and playwright John Agard, and Fiona Lamptey, the director of UK film at Netflix, which is sponsoring the event.
Lamptey says the creative industries open up in order to thrive. “Without everyone’s voices represented in the arts, we are missing out: not only on amazing talent and incredible stories but also on the opportunity to be challenged by a different perspective or alternative viewpoint, or to see familiar things differently,” she adds.
The hope, says Lamptey, is that attendees will “walk away feeling inspired and with knowledge and advice to help them take the next step towards their goal. I hope the festival debunks any misconceptions they have about the creative industries.”
Cultural historian and founder of the Free Books Campaign, Sofia Akel, will introduce three of 2023’s debut novelists: Taylor-Dior Rumble, author of romance novel The Situationship; Jyoti Patel, the author of The Things That We Lost and winner of the #Merky Books new writers’ prize; and Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us.
Patel says she didn’t believe her novel would ever get published because it features Gujarati characters whose words sometimes go untranslated into English. The publishing industry, she says, seemed to her to be publishing the “same kinds of books by the same kind of writers”.
“When you create an industry that isn’t diverse and isn’t reflective of society, it turns into an echo chamber where the same narratives are constantly being perpetuated,” she says. “Young people will pick up books that all have the same kind of person or all have a certain style and think that’s the only way to access the industry – to perpetuate this and to write this.”
Patel says she hopes the festival, and the range of authors and stories it will showcase, will inspire young people and offer practical advice. Montana Leigh Hall, founder of Run the Check, a platform that showcases paid creative opportunities, will run sessions on both days of the festival with experts from Penguin and Netflix, who will share tips for getting into TV, film and publishing.
Love Island star and broadcaster Priscilla Anyabu will interview finance expert Bola Sol, author of How to Save It, and Damola Timeyin, co-author of How to Build It, about how to secure funding for creative endeavours and how to make entrepreneurship work.
Poetry will be celebrated at an event with Sophia Thakur, Monika Radojevic, Yomi Sode and Caleb Femi, while Keisha the Sket author Jade LB and writer Caleb Azumah-Nelson will talk to Alice Pearse, a commissioner at Netflix, about adapting books for the screen. A panel with Liv Little, Rivers Solomon and Okechukwu Nzelu will see the writers sharing their personal journeys and creative processes as queer individuals.
There will also be a live recording of BBC Radio 1Xtra Talks, a live recording of the podcast 10/10 Would Recommend with Tolani Shoneye and Gena-mour Barrett in conversation with Bolu Babalola, and a panel exploring girlhood with Candice Brathwaite, playwright and screenwriter Theresa Ikoko, novelist Jacqueline Crooks, and Toya Wolfe, author of Last Summer on State Street.
• The #Merky Books Literature Festival powered by Netflix is at Roundhouse on 22-23 April. Tickets are free and available at roundhouse.org.uk
