Author: Jade LB
Publisher: Merky
Hardback
Staff Picks: Sam says…
Published in book form for the first time, Keisha The Sket is a text that started life as a text shared by bluetooth and over email, a viral phenomenon from the MSN age and a time capsule of the txt language that defined the time. It follows Keisha, a young teen, through her first sexual experiences, and encounters with violence in her ends. It is explosive, funny, lurid and at times disturbing (as any snapshot from the mind of a 13-year old would be), but it is a sheer joy to read because of this filterlessness.
It is given here in its original form, and in a modernised English version, alongside an introduction from the author about her changing relationship (shame and eventual reconciliation) to Keisha. There are also excellent contextualising essays from Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi, Aniefiok Ekpoudom and Enny on how formative Keisha was to their own writing, and how important it has remained as a document of young, black, female sexuality. If you pick this book up, you won’t put it down til it's done. And when it’s done, you won’t forget it.