Wild East
Winner of the YA Diverse Book Award 2025, the Two Cities Book Award 2024, the Mal Peet Children’s Award 2024 and the East Anglian Book of the Year 2024, and nominated for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing.
A soaring debut YA verse-novel by novelist, poet, and former secondary school teacher Ashley Hickson-Lovence. A perfect next read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Dean Atta and Manjeet Mann.
‘A book meant to be heard . . . It's the fresh, “spoken word” style that makes Ronny's story’ The Times
Pen in one hand, on my wrist, a ticking clock
I've got to make this work, just need a little luck . . .
When fourteen-year-old Ronny’s life is struck by tragedy, his mum decides it’s finally time they move out of East London.
In his new city, as a Black teenager in a mostly white school, Ronny feels like a complete outsider and struggles to balance keeping his head down with his ambition of becoming a rapper.
But when a local poet comes into class, Ronny discovers a world he’s never considered before. Rap is like spoken word, bars equal poetry – and maybe the combination of both could be the key to achieving his dreams?
Praise for Wild East:
‘A powerful story of resilience, friendship, discovery and growth’ Jeffrey Boakye, author of Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer
‘I loved Ronny's kindness, vulnerability, empathy, tenacity and open-heartedness’ Patrice Lawrence, author of Orangeboy
‘Raw, moving, and so accessible. A powerful spoken-word style verse novel’ Rashmi Sirdeshpande, author of How To Be Extraordinary
‘Welcomes all types of readers . . . Hickson-Lovence has crafted a superb piece’ DD Armstrong, author of Ugly Dogs Don't Cry
‘Heartfelt and up-to-the-minute . . . A reminder that even short lines can take you a long way’ The Sunday Times
‘This empowering verse novel announces the arrival of an exciting new talent in YA fiction’ Waterstones.com
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is a novelist, poet, literary critic, and Lecturer of Creative Writing.
Wild East was his first award-winning YA verse-novel, and was partly inspired by his time as a secondary school English teacher, his own move from London to Norwich, and tutoring a group of asylum seekers at an Arvon retreat. Wild East also weaves in Ashley’s love of British hip hop. His second YA verse-novel, Dead Ends, will publish in 2026. Ashley has also written two adult novels, The 392, and Your Show, which was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards.