Sufiyaan Salam wins #Merky Books’ New Writers’ Prize 2024

Sufiyaan Salam has won #Merky Books’ New Writers’ Prize 2024 for his “blistering” debut novel Wimmy Road Boyz. 

Now in its fifth year, the prize aims to discover unpublished, underrepresented writers aged 18-35 from the UK and Ireland. The winner is awarded a publishing contract with musician Stormzy’s publishing imprint #Merky Books at Penguin Random House UK. 

Stormzy announced the winner at a special awards ceremony held at Waterstones Tottenham Court Road on Saturday 24th February. 

Salam, 26, is a Manchester-based writer who works across various mediums including screen, theatre and prose. 

Set over the course of a single, surreal night, Wimmy Road Boyz, follows three men in their early 20s who drive up and down Manchester’s Curry Mile, bringing all of their baggage with them. In pursuit of a wild time, these boys don’t yet know that their first night out in so long will also be their last. 

#Merky Books said: “In this blistering debut novel, Salam explores heartbreak, masculinity, friendship, faith, class and the unceasing chaos of a Tory Britain.” 

Salam said: “It’s still sinking in, but wow — I’m beyond excited to be given the opportunity to have my work published with Penguin! Having met the talented writers on the shortlist, I know just how fierce the competition was. I’ve been trying to write for as long as I can remember and I’m committed to making work that’s interesting, has something to say and is — even better — fun. Growing up in Blackburn, it was easy to think this kinda thing wouldn’t happen for someone like me. Shout out to the whole #Merky team, all the judges, and the ‘writer’s camp’ group chat!” 

To celebrate the fifth year of #Merky Books, this year the prize focused on fiction and had a record-breaking 800 fiction submissions. Longlisted writers were invited to a writers’ camp, where they learnt about the publishing process through panel talks and workshops, received personalised one-to-one feedback from industry editors and met the #Merky Books team. 

The panel of judges included British musician and #Merky Books founder Stormzy, award-winning writer and poet Derek Owusu, Women’s Prize shortlisted author of Fire Rush (Jonathan Cape) Jacqueline Crooks, author, journalist and TV presenter Candice Brathwaite and senior policy advisor and co-director of Roundtable books Jasmina Bidé. 

Previous winners of the prize include Hafsa Zayyan, author of We Are All Birds of Uganda and Monika Radojevic, whose collection Teeth in the Back of My Neck was published in 2021 and whose second work, a short story collection, will be published by #Merky Books in 2025. 

Stormzy said: “Excited to announce Sufiyaan as this year’s winner of the prize. I loved Wimmy Road Boyz and I can’t wait to read more.” 

Crooks added: “The energy of Salam’s work was beyond. The writing was dazzling in its daring and reach. I didn’t know where the writing was taking me and I loved this, I wanted to join the man-dem in their journey through the night.” 

Helen Conford, publisher for Hutchinson Heinemann, Cornerstone Press and #Merky Books said: “This was an incredibly strong year for submissions and reading the work of these writers was an incredibly humbling and invigorating experience for all involved. It has been very hard to choose a winner from a such a strong shortlist. We all hope that many a career will be encouraged as a result.”