#MERKY BOOKS AWARDS 2026 NEW WRITERS’ PRIZE TO INTERGENERATIONAL NOVEL SET IN SOUTHERN THAILAND AND LONDON

By Mark Mukasa • On What is New

Stormzy and Sandy Rompotiy­oke, cred­it Will Fahy

#Merky Books has revealed Sandy Rompotiy­oke as the win­ner of the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize 2026.Stormzy announced Rompotiy­oke as win­ner at a spe­cial award cere­mony held at Pen­guin Ran­dom House UK on Thursday 19th February.

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

Sandy Rompotiy­oke, 32, is a Thai-Brit­ish writer, spa­tial prac­ti­tion­er, and artist based in Lon­don and Bangkok.

 Her win­ning sub­mis­sion, Hal­lowed Land, is a lyr­ic­al intergen­er­a­tion­al nov­el explor­ing a leg­acy forged through quiet sac­ri­fices and lul­la­bies of won­der that echo between moth­ers, daugh­ters and ances­tral realms that refuse to for­get them.

Span­ning three gen­er­a­tions of Thai women of Chinese des­cent – Dao, Pail­in, and Tawan – across South­ern Thai­l­and and Lon­don, the nov­el traces the subtle yet dev­ast­at­ing ways memory, long­ing, and grief inscribe them­selves into their lin­eage, alter­ing their sense of devo­tion, estrange­ment, and belonging.

Sandy Rompotiy­oke said: “I’m incred­ibly grate­ful and excited to begin this writ­ing jour­ney with Pen­guin. Grow­ing up in the UK, I’ve often wondered where or even wheth­er untold stor­ies of quiet sac­ri­fice, often car­ried by women and immig­rant lives, might belong when listen­ing feels increas­ingly rare. Win­ning this prize feels pro­foundly affirm­ing. It gives me per­mis­sion to be curi­ous, to sur­face urgent and some­times incon­veni­ent truths, and to hon­our the bril­liance of those who came before me. Thank you to the #Merky Books team and judges, and to the gen­er­ous com­munit­ies of writers, read­ers, and advoc­ates. If this work res­on­ates, it’s because it has nev­er been mine alone. I look for­ward to devel­op­ing it with care and close attention.”

 The pan­el of judges included Brit­ish musi­cian and #Merky Books founder Stormzy, crit­ic­ally acclaimed author of Wan­der­ing Souls Cecile Pin, writer and journ­al­ist Aniefiok Ekpou­dom, Water­stones Book­seller and host of the substack @whatdylanswriting Dylan Pat­sanza, and prize-win­ning author of Fun­da­ment­ally Nus­sai­bah Younis.

All short­l­is­ted writers were invited to attend a writers’ camp in Octo­ber of last year, where they get the chance to par­ti­cip­ate in writ­ing work­shops, pan­el talks, edit­or­i­al one-to-ones and meet the #Merky Books team.

Pre­vi­ous win­ners of the prize include: Haf­sa Zayy­an, author of We Are All Birds of Uganda (2021);  Monika Radojevic, author of Teeth in the Back of My Neck (2021), A Beau­ti­ful Lack of Con­sequence (2025) and Stranger­land (2026); and Jyoti Patel, author of The Things That We Lost (2023). The debut nov­el by 2024 prize- win­ner Wil­li­am Ray­fet Hunter, Sun­struck, was pub­lished in 2025 and short­l­is­ted for the Water­stones Debut Fic­tion Prize. This year #Merky Books will pub­lish Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiy­aan Salam, who was named one of The Observ­er’s best debut nov­el­ists of 2026. Last year’s win­ner was Abaka Debra with Where Geez­ers Call Home.

Stormzy said: ‘Hal­lowed Land is a real remind­er of why read­ing mat­ters — it pulls you into someone else’s world. Sandy’s writ­ing is beau­ti­ful, power­ful and incred­ibly fear­less. I’m really proud we have the hon­our of pub­lish­ing her at #Merky Books.’

 

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Mark Mukasa

Mark is a South Lon­don based writer and avid fan of all things hip hop. He’s also an MMA and his­tory enthu­si­ast who tries to keep his love of animé under wraps.

About Mark Mukasa

Mark is a South London based writer and avid fan of all things hip hop. He's also an MMA and history enthusiast who tries to keep his love of anime under wraps.