Keisha the Sket

Last updated

Keisha the Sket (originally Keisha Da Sket) is an erotic coming-of-age novel, written by a 13-year-old Black London schoolgirl in text-speak, using London slang. It was originally published online in installments in the 2000s and went viral via smartphones. It was published in print for the first time in 2021, with the formerly anonymous author, now an academic, using the name Jade LB, and won the British Book Awards 2022 in the Discover Book of the Year category.

Contents

Synopsis

Keisha is a 17-year-old "top sket" (slut) from the "ends" (the working-class, heavily minority outskirts of London) who finds she enjoys sex. The novel recounts her interactions with "the mandem" (boys), including both an idealised lover and a gang rape as well as non-sexual violence. [1] [2] [3] A passage early in the book reads: "I lay bck dwn an jus thought abat all da eventz of yesterday. Imagine dat, I gt lashed twice, gt a hubby and shanked sum1! Rahhh!" [4]

Publication history

The author, who is of Caribbean heritage, was a 13-year-old living in North London and attending a girls' school in Hackney when she started writing her novel after being given her first computer. [2] [4] She modelled its structure on dramatic novels by writers such as Jacqueline Wilson and was inspired by African-American erotic fiction, in particular by Zane. [2] [5] She wrote in text-speak, using London slang. Once her family was able to afford internet access, she published the novel on Piczo under the title Keisha Da Sket, as 18 chapters, which appeared in installments from 2005 to 2007. The text was shared on smartphones via Bluetooth and SMS and spread virally. [1] [2] [3] [4] [6] [7] It was a seminal work for teens in the noughties; [3] [8] [9] [10] one reader tweeted in 2013, "I've only read 3 books in my life Keisha Da Sket, Of Mice And Men and the Argos Catalogue". [7] Readers wrote their own "sket" novels in emulation, [4] [9] and their own continuations. [2] The author originally had her name on the site, but in 2010 became anonymous. [2]

A nostalgic buzz around the novel re-emerged on social media in 2017, and literary agent Rachel Mann contacted the author after her assistant, a young Black woman, brought it to her attention. [4] In October 2021, it was published in print for the first time, as Keisha the Sket, by Stormzy's Penguin Random House imprint, #Merky Books. [8] [5] [10] This edition includes an author's note and a retelling in standard English that amplifies some points and adds a new ending, with Keisha going to university. [1] [2] [4] [7] The author, credited as Jade LB, is now a part-time lecturer in African politics who also works with children and at-risk young women. She is executive producer for the Amazon original podcast +44 Presents:...The Noughties with presenters Eddie Kadi and Nadia Jae. [11] After featuring in Stormzy's comeback video "Mel Made Me Do It", she revealed her identity as the author in a caption on her Instagram page: "our national treasure is back. #mmmdi #melmademedoit". [12]

Awards

Keisha the Sket was the first winner of the Discover Book of the Year award at the British Book Awards 2022. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Mosse</span> English writer (born 1961)

Katherine Louise Mosse is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages. She co-founded in 1996 the annual award for best UK-published English-language novel by a woman that is now known as the Women's Prize for Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Atkinson (writer)</span> English writer

Kate Atkinson is an English writer of novels, plays and short stories. She is known for creating the Jackson Brodie series of detective novels, which has been adapted into the BBC One series Case Histories. She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in 1995 in the Novels category for Behind the Scenes at the Museum, winning again in 2013 and 2015 under its new name the Costa Book Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malorie Blackman</span> British writer (born 1962)

Malorie Blackman is a British writer who held the position of Children's Laureate from 2013 to 2015. She primarily writes literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethical issues, for example, her Noughts and Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional alternative Britain to explore racism. Blackman has been the recipient of many honours for her work, including the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jojo Moyes</span> English novelist and journalist

Pauline Sara Jo Moyes, known professionally as Jojo Moyes, is an English journalist and, since 2002, an award-winning romance novelist, #1 New York Times best selling author and screenwriter. She is one of only a few authors to have twice won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association and her works have been translated into twenty-eight languages and have sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tahmima Anam</span> British writer, novelist and columnist.

Tahmima Anam is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, novelist and columnist. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes. Her follow-up novel, The Good Muslim, was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. She is the granddaughter of Abul Mansur Ahmed and daughter of Mahfuz Anam.

Adele Parks is an English women's fiction author. She has written 23 novels in her 23-year career as an author and is one of the bestselling authors of women's fiction in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernardine Evaristo</span> British author and academic (born 1959)

Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo is a British author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker. Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first black person to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Anaxagorou</span> British born poet and writer

Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, publisher and educator.

Evelyn Rose Strange "Evie" Wyld is an Anglo-Australian author. Her first novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2009, and her second novel, All the Birds, Singing, won the Encore Award in 2013 and the Miles Franklin Award in 2014. Her third novel, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reni Eddo-Lodge</span> British journalist and author

Reni Eddo-Lodge is a British journalist and author, whose writing primarily focuses on feminism and exposing structural racism. She has written for a range of publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Voice, BuzzFeed, Vice, i-D and Dazed & Confused, and is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stormzy</span> British rapper (born 1993)

Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats. Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially released as a freestyle on YouTube, became popular and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart after he launched a campaign to reach Christmas number one.

Jacaranda Books is a Black-owned British independent book publishing firm launched in 2012 and known for their effort promoting diversity in United Kingdom's publishing industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onjali Q. Raúf</span> British author and the founder of the NGO Making Herstory

Onjali Qatara Raúf is a British author and the founder of the two NGOs: Making Herstory, a woman's rights organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK; and O's Refugee Aid Team, which raises awareness and funds to support refugee frontline aid organisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcie Little Badger</span> American writer of speculative fiction (b. 1987)

Darcie Little Badger is an American author and Earth scientist.

Derek Owusu is a British writer and podcaster. He edited and contributed to the book Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space (2019), and released his debut novel, That Reminds Me, in November 2019. That Reminds Me was awarded the 2020 Desmond Elliott Prize. Owusu was named on Granta's "Best of Young British Novelists" list 2023.

Candice Carty-Williams is a British writer, best known for her 2019 debut novel, Queenie. She has written for publications including The Guardian, i-D, Vogue, The Sunday Times, BEAT Magazine, and Black Ballad, and is a contributor to the anthology New Daughters of Africa (2019), edited by Margaret Busby.

Catriona Ward is an American and British horror novelist.

<i>Taking Up Space</i> 2019 non-fiction book by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi

Taking Up Space: The Black Girl's Manifesto for Change is a 2019 book by Cambridge University graduates Chelsea Kwakye, who is British-Ghanaian and Ore Ogunbiyi, who is Nigerian-British.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a British novelist, short-story writer and columnist. Her debut novel, the young adult thriller Ace of Spades (2021), received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens in 2022, and reached the top ten on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<i>That Reminds Me</i> (novel) 2019 novel by Derek Owusu

That Reminds Me is the debut novel of British author and podcaster Derek Owusu, published in 2019 by Merky books, a Penguin imprint launched by Stormzy and Penguin Random House UK. A Bildungroman, the novel takes place in the British countryside and in London and traces the childhood, adolescence and young adulthood of its first-person narrator, "K", and deals with the themes of identity, family, trauma, mental health, masculinity and racism. Owusu started writing the novel while he was in a mental health facility and because he wanted to understand the build-up of a mental breakdown. While there are superficial similarities between Owusu’s life and that of his protagonist, the novel is not autobiographical. Owusu himself described the character of K as something like an “alter ego”.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Amel Mukhtar (14 October 2021). "Keisha Da Sket Shook Black Britain. Author Jade LB Discusses Its Impact And The New Rewrite". British Vogue.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Adwoa Darko (14 October 2021). "Unveiling Keisha The Sket". Gal-Dem.
  3. 1 2 3 TJ Sidhu (8 April 2021). "How Keisha the Sket captivated London's mid-00s teens". The Face.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alice Kemp-Habib (12 October 2021). "How Keisha The Sket went from Piczo to Penguin books". British GQ.
  5. 1 2 Candice Carty-Williams (9 October 2021). "'I turned against Keisha the Sket for a long time': Jade LB on returning to her noughties viral story". The Guardian (Interview).
  6. ↑ Jade LB (29 November 2019). "How 'Keisha The Sket' Accidentally Decolonised Literature". Black Ballad.
  7. 1 2 3 Kirsty Grant (14 October 2021). "Keisha the Sket author says she felt shame at her viral story". BBC News.
  8. 1 2 Heloise Wood (8 April 2021). "#Merky Books revisits Jade LB's Keisha the Sket 16 years on". The Bookseller.
  9. 1 2 Yomi Adegoke (17 March 2016). "Things You'll Only Know If You Grew Up In The Endz". Complex UK.
  10. 1 2 Scarlett Baker (8 April 2021). "#Merky Books is reviving the noughties viral classic 'Keisha the Sket'". Dazed.
  11. ↑ "+44 Presents: The Noughties with Nadia Jae & Eddie Kadi". We Are Unedited. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  12. ↑ Jade LB. "Jade LB's Mel Made Me Do It reveal post". Instagram. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  13. ↑ Porter Anderson (24 May 2022). "The 'Nibbies': The British Book Awards Name Their 2022 Winners". Publishing Perspectives. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022.
  14. ↑ Lauren Brown (23 May 2022). "Marcus Rashford's You Are a Champion bags Book of the Year at the British Book Awards". The Bookseller.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.