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.

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 like 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 which 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]

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.
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