Keisha the Sket
{{Short description|2005 novel by Jade LB}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
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 instalments 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.{{cite magazine |author=Amel Mukhtar |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/keisha-the-sket-jade-lb-interview |title=Keisha Da Sket Shook Black Britain. Author Jade LB Discusses Its Impact And The New Rewrite |magazine=British Vogue |date=14 October 2021 }}{{cite web |author=Adwoa Darko |url=https://gal-dem.com/keisha-the-sket-jade-lb/ |title=Unveiling Keisha The Sket |work=Gal-Dem |date=14 October 2021 }}{{cite web |author=TJ Sidhu |url=https://theface.com/culture/keisha-the-sket-2000s-london-teens-book-jade-lb-merky-books-stormzy-british-books-black-british-community-novels |title=How Keisha the Sket captivated London's mid-00s teens |work=The Face |date=8 April 2021 }} 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!"{{cite magazine |author=Alice Kemp-Habib |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/keisha-the-sket |title=How Keisha The Sket went from Piczo to Penguin books |work=British GQ |date=12 October 2021 }}
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. 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.{{cite news |author=Candice Carty-Williams |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/09/i-turned-against-keisha-the-sket-for-a-long-time-jade-lb-on-returning-to-her-noughties-viral-story |title='I turned against Keisha the Sket for a long time': Jade LB on returning to her noughties viral story| type=Interview |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 October 2021 }} 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 instalments from 2005 to 2007. The text was shared on smartphones via Bluetooth and SMS and spread virally.{{cite web |author=Jade LB |url=https://blackballad.co.uk/views-voices/how-keisha-the-sket-accidentally-decolonised-literature |title=How 'Keisha The Sket' Accidentally Decolonised Literature |work=Black Ballad |date=29 November 2019 }}{{cite news |author=Kirsty Grant |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-58872982 |title=Keisha the Sket author says she felt shame at her viral story |publisher=BBC News |date=14 October 2021 }} It was a seminal work for teens in the noughties;{{cite news |author=Heloise Wood |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/merky-books-revisits-jade-lbs-keisha-sket-16-years-1252229 |title=#Merky Books revisits Jade LB's Keisha the Sket 16 years on |work=The Bookseller |date=8 April 2021 }}{{cite web |author=Yomi Adegoke |url=https://www.complex.com/life/things-you-know-grew-up-endz/keisha-the-sket |title=Things You'll Only Know If You Grew Up In The Endz |website=Complex UK |date=17 March 2016 }}{{cite web |author=Scarlett Baker |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/52424/1/merky-books-is-reviving-the-noughties-viral-classic-keisha-the-sket |title=#Merky Books is reviving the noughties viral classic 'Keisha the Sket' |work=Dazed |date= 8 April 2021 }} 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". Readers wrote their own "sket" novels in emulation, and their own continuations. The author originally had her name on the site, but in 2010 became anonymous.
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. In October 2021, the novel was published in print for the first time, as Keisha the Sket, by Stormzy's Penguin Random House imprint, #Merky Books. 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. 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.{{Cite web |title=+44 Presents: The Noughties with Nadia Jae & Eddie Kadi |url=https://weareunedited.com/audio/44-presents-the-noughties-with-nadia-jae-eddie-kadi/ |access-date=29 June 2023 |website=We Are Unedited |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326000212/https://weareunedited.com/audio/44-presents-the-noughties-with-nadia-jae-eddie-kadi/ |url-status=live }} 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".{{Cite web |author=Jade LB |title=Jade LB's Mel Made Me Do It reveal post |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2LJboIzaa/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== |website=Instagram |url-status=live |access-date=29 June 2023 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629225907/https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2LJboIzaa/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== }}
Awards
Keisha the Sket was the first winner of the Discover Book of the Year award at the British Book Awards 2022.{{Cite news |author=Porter Anderson |title=The 'Nibbies': The British Book Awards Name Their 2022 Winners |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/05/the-nibbies-the-british-book-awards-name-their-2022-winners/ |date=24 May 2022 |website=Publishing Perspectives |archive-date=24 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724235003/https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/05/the-nibbies-the-british-book-awards-name-their-2022-winners/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |author=Lauren Brown |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/marcus-rashfords-you-are-a-champion-bags-book-of-the-year-at-the-british-book-awards |title=Marcus Rashford's You Are a Champion bags Book of the Year at the British Book Awards |website=The Bookseller |date=23 May 2022 }}