Wimmy Road Boyz author Sufiyaan Salam kicked off 2024 winning the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize, an annual contest launched by rapper Stormzy which aims to increase access to the publishing industry for a wider range of voices.

The novel, set on Manchester's Wilmslow Road, explores masculinity and British Asian identity, and is due to be published by Penguin Random House, with Salam hoping it encourages more representation for British Asians in literature. The 26 year old, part of the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices 2022, also writes for TV and theatre, and works as a script editor for BBC Studios.