A free pop-up shop curated by Stormzy opened up last week at the Beats by Dre Residency.
#Merky Books in Shoreditch encouraged BAME creatives to get involved in the industry through a series of workshops running from November 14 – 16.
Coauthor of Freedom and Balance Nabil Al-Kanini mentioned the importance of publishing the book independently at the event. He said: “Unless you’re degrading yourself, they don’t always want to hear your story.”
Stormzy created #Merky books to combat racial inequality within the creative industry and help new voices be heard and published in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Each day of the pop-up covered different aspects of the creative industry: Thursday was dedicated to songwriting overseen by urban star Wretch 32 and Friday focused on publishing and boasted a panel discussion hosted by author of Taking Up Space: The Black Girls Manifesto for Change’, Chelsea Kwakye.
On Saturday there was a ‘Beyond Books Talk’ hosted by Nate Agbetu of Play Nice, which gave insight into theatre through play writing exercises.
The highly popular event also included performances by DJ K2RAH, Yomi Sode and a screening of Serious Tingz by Abdou Cisse.
During the event there were books by authors of colour, independent zines and audiobooks available for visitors to engage with.
