Wimmy Road Boyz

WINNER OF THE #MERKY BOOKS NEW WRITERS' PRIZE; A NEW NORTHERN MASTERPIECE. A SERVICE95 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 'Salam is a standard bearer for a new generation of literary novelists' GUARDIAN 'A future classic. Salam is about to become a completely essential voice in fiction' JULIA ARMFIELD 'A landmark debut' NICOLA DINAN 'Lived in. Rough tongued. Soulful' TICE CIN 'A darkly witty story of Northern rude-bois coming of age' NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS 'Freewheeling, risk-taking and ceaselessly fun' GURNAIK JOHAL 'The energy of Salam's work was beyond . . . dazzling in its daring and reach' JACQUELINE CROOKS three boyz drive & dream of an impossible night on an endless street. . . a white bimmer hurtles down manchester's curry mile, carrying three brown boys in pursuit of a wild night out, oi oi oi! there's IMMY (22) - nursing mad heartbreak but tryna get over it by chirpsing someone new, hoping to distract from the scores of rage bubbling up beneath. . . there's KHAN (23) - cambridge-gangster on a mission to avenge, losing himself to old stereotypes, illegal ventures on the sly. . . and there's HARIS (23) - the sensitive type, getting married next week but having second thoughts, feeling mad para about his day ones discovering all his secrets. it's an evening of chaos and mischief. three boys with nothing to do and something to prove. of course there's gonna be trouble. and look, what the boys don't know: this night might just be their last. . . WIMMY ROAD BOYZ is a blistering story of masculinity, violence and love set over the course of a single, surreal night from a wholly original new British talent. A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN BRICKS MAGAZINE AND BBC MORE PRAISE 'This book is wild tongues, a zig-zagging miracle, and proof, if ever we needed it, that Britain and its literature are myriad' GUY GUNARATNE 'Energetic-livewire masterpiece' NIKESH SHUKLA 'Inventive and highly enjoyable' BBC BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A writer I hope to see keep pushing the boundaries of what contemporary fiction can show us' DEREK OWUSU 'Brilliant, ingenious, and utterly dazzling... a polyphonic narrative of epic proportions.' KASIM ALI 'A symphonic ode to youth, friendship and masculinity.' SANTANU BHATTACHARYA 'Riotous. . . raucous, wildly inventive' OBSERVER 'A big-hearted buddy novel doubling as a state-of-the-nation snapshot of anxious young masculinity' DAILY MAIL 'A perfect novel' JACK EDWARDS

Sufiyaan Salam is a writer (and former animator) from Blackburn. He co-wrote the BAFTA-nominated, BIFA-winning short film MAGID / ZAFAR and won the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize for his novel Wimmy Road Boyz. He was also named an Observer Best Debut Novelist 2026.