Hunter’s ‘smart, compulsive’ novel wins #Merky Books’ New Writers’ Prize 

Writer and junior doctor William Rayfet Hunter has won #Merky Books’ New Writers’ Prize 2023 for his “thrilling” and “fresh” novel People Like Us.

Launched in 2019 and won last year by Jyoti Patel (The Things That We Lost), the prize aims to discover unpublished underrepresented writers aged 16-30 from the UK and Ireland.

Winning out against nearly 1,000 submissions, 29-year-old Hunter receives a publishing contract with #Merky Books. His winning novel, People Like Us, is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who strikes up a friendship with a girl named Lily Blake.

Set in the modern day between a sun-drenched summer in the south of France and the stuccoed white facades of London, the novel explores race, class, money, drugs, status and what parts of ourselves we lose when we fall in love.

Hunter said: “I am incredibly excited to be offered this opportunity to share my writing with the world. Writing is something that I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember, but I’d begun to feel like that door was closed to me. It’s easy to feel as queer black people, that our stories are not worth telling – that in some way they do not fit with what the world wants to read about. I am so grateful that the #Merky Books team has seen the potential in my story.”

The panel of judges included British musician and #Merky Books founder Stormzy, author of I Am Not Your Baby Mother (Quercus) Candice Brathwaite, author and broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake, Fleur Sinclair from independent bookseller Sevenoaks Bookshop, and British Olympian heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Stormzy said he was “so happy to crown Will as the winner of this year’s prize,” describing Hunter as “an extremely talented" writer. “I can’t wait to read more,” he said.

Arthanayake said of the winning story: “A beautifully written array of characters whose lives I want to explore further. Will constructs his characters with care and grace and I am genuinely intrigued to see how the central protagonist navigates his way through these competing forces of sexuality, race, class and money.”

Tallulah Lyons, assistant editor for #Merky Books, commented: “I cannot wait to start working with Will, I was absolutely blown away by the extract he submitted for the prize. Immediately after finishing, I was desperate for the full manuscript – there is such depth to the characters and the story is full of intrigue and suspense. I’m thrilled to be adding his smart, compulsive novel to the #Merky Books list.”

Lemara Lindsay-Prince, senior commissioning editor for #Merky Books, said: “We are immensely proud of another successful year of the prize, from our in-person writers’ day camp, to introducing a new literary voice. We’re all really excited to be publishing People Like Us under the #Merky Books imprint and to be announcing our fourth winner in our fifth anniversary year.”