‘Superheroes’: Stormzy to publish new book celebrating diverse British role models

The book will be released under his co-imprint #Merky Books

Rapper Stormzy is behind a new book celebrating UK diversity. Getty Images

Stormzy is releasing a children’s book.

Out on September 15, Superheroes celebrates British role models from different cultures and walks of life.

Released under his co-imprint #Merky Books, the compilation is written by poet Sophia Thakur and features the inspiring lives of over 50 personalities from underrepresented communities in the UK.

Included are athlete Dina Asher-Smith, broadcaster Riz Khan, film director Reggie Yates, footballer Ian Wright, baker Liam Charles and comedian Mo Gilligan.

Others appearing come from fields including the arts, science, literature, fashion, entertainment and sports.

Illustrating each profile is Denzell Dankwah, 21, whose talents was spotted by #Merky Books on Instagram.

The book also functions as a companion piece to Stomzy’s (born Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr) 2020 single, also called Superheroes.

In an accompanying statement, Thakur says that she hopes the work inspires a new frame of reference for multicultural British children.

“If from a young age, we only really meet blackness from a position of weakness, of slavery and shootings – stereotypes and racist media – as children, we don’t get an opportunity to develop a healthy and confident outlook on what it means to be black,” she says.

“It was important to work on this book to plant a new seed of celebration. Of black excellence into our young minds who will hopefully bloom into their very own superheroes. Confident and powerful.”

Launched in 2018, #Merky Books has published fiction and non-fiction works from diverse UK voices.

Titles already released include the Stormzy memoir Rise Up: The #Merky Story So Far (2018) and novels Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change (2019) by Chelsea Kwakye and this year's We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan.

In 2019, the Vossi Bop rapper also launched the Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students, which covers tuition costs for two students for up to four years at the University of Cambridge.