Stormzy reveals 'extremely talented' #Merky Books 2023 winner

William Rayfet Hunter's novel is about "a boy who falls in love with a family and a world where he doesn't belong"

The winner of Stormzy's #Merky Books prize says it has shown the growing appetite for books written by queer, black authors.

Junior doctor William Rayfet Hunter is the third person to receive the New Writers' Prize set up by the rapper.

William's novel People Like Us was one of almost 1,000 entries to the competition.

"It's easy to feel as queer black people that our stories are not worth telling," says William.

"I am so grateful that the #Merky Books team has seen the potential in my story."

William, 29, says People Like Us is about "a boy who falls in love with a family and a world where he doesn't belong - trying to fit into a world of glamour, money, middle-class success".

It explores race, class, money, drugs and status through the unnamed narrator's friendship with a girl.

"I think that as a queer person, as a person of colour, there's so many rules that we feel that we need to follow in order to be lovable or to be loved," William tells BBC Newsbeat.

"This book looks at what parts we give up to try and fit the mould that we think others want from us."

Williams says he took inspiration from previous #Merky winner Hafsa Zayyan

Stormzy set up the #Merky Books prize to discover unpublished and under-represented writers aged 16 to 30 from the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The grime star was part of the judging panel and said he was "happy to crown Will as the winner".

He said William was "an extremely talented writer and I can't wait to read more".

William, from Manchester, says he was speechless when he found out and says the win is so important "for people like me".

"There's a lot of talk and a lot of action from people of colour, from queer people in the literary world.

"I think there's a whole wealth of black and brown writers, of queer writers, of immigrant writers who may not feel like I did, that their stories were worth telling, even though there are people out there who want to read them."

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The prize means William will have a chance to tell more stories - as he now has a contract with publisher Penguin Random House UK.

He says he took inspiration from previous #Merky winner Hafsa Zayyan, author of We Are All Birds of Uganda, and authors Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

"They were always exceptional but it seemed they had to fight to get their stories to be told," William says.

"But they always wrote stories that were authentic to them and to their identity, that's why people really do love them".

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