Mercury Prize Winner Speech Debelle looks to her books for inspiration

Speech Debelle who has just been announced as the surprise winner of the 2009 Mercury Music Prize with her album Speech Therapy, has said that she will ‘definitely’ consider writing a novel or short story, but only if it was about herself.

In an exclusive interview given to the independent reading charity Booktrust, Speech Debelle commented:

‘I think it’d be too difficult for me to tell a story and it not be true to me. I find that difficult in songs. A song like Bad Boy, I’ve got to keep someone else’s emotions and thoughts in my mind and be consumed by them, which I find difficult to do. So that’s why I’d have to write about myself.
The Mercury Music Prize winner praised the writers who have influenced her own work, including Maya Angelou, Andrea Levy, and the rapper Tupac Shakur.

‘The first book I read and thought ‘wow,’ was Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Small Island by Andrea Levy is one of my favourite books from the last few years other than Cupcake Brown, Piece of Cake. If I see people reading Small Island, I feel envious of them because I can’t go on that journey anymore, it’s over for me, I’ve read it. It’s a hilarious and real book, I can really relate to it.’

Speech went on to site her love of reading for her award-winning music which has been proclaimed as powerful, heart-breaking and honest by numerous music critics and a growing legion of fans.

‘I think my interest in books has improved my writing. I like the way that certain books like Small Island allows the story to breathe over time. Some things you read only take place over a year but books over a long period of time show how your surroundings change.’

For the full interview go to http://www.booktrust.org.uk/