Born and raised in Hackney, Jackson was tagged as the ‘Singing Politician’ by Sir Tom Jones and referred to as Britain’s first singing Black Prime Minister by leading tabloids.

Jermain is now actively using his voice to make political interventions which seek to create a fairer future for the children and young people in Hackney and beyond. This includes Jermain’s most recent, passionate plea to Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, drawing attention to the fact that in the past, stop and search too often labelled young people of colour as criminals, and urging police to step up policies.

Through his work as the Chair of the Young Futures Commission and advising capacity with the National Citizens Service, Jermain is raising awareness of how the youth of London are feeling disenfranchised and left without opportunities.

Jermain will be represented by Crystal Mahey-Morgan who commented:

“Jermain is an exciting and necessary voice committed to doing all that he can to make sure that future generations are not left voiceless. He is a super talented singer with a unique career path and has many exciting ideas in development. We feel hugely lucky to be working with Jermaine and welcoming him to the OWN IT! collective”

A selection of photographs taken throughout the day by The Bookseller @ the Futurebook Live 2019 conference.

A truly fascinating and necessary panel, discussing the past, present and future steps for women in publishing.
Full article HERE: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/gail-rebuck-calls-more-female-publishing-heads-1117041

Check out the full article by Deadline, HERE: https://deadline.com/2019/11/idris-elbas-green-door-pictures-to-adapt-stormzy-published-teaching-my-brother-to-read-for-tv-1202794374/

Check out the full article on The Bookseller, HERE: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/idris-elba-snares-derek-owusus-book-film-and-tv-1116931

The book is a year-long project undertaken by the author in order to find a way to connect to his younger brother as Owusu’s brother “was getting into an increasing amount of trouble and rapidly losing interest in his own life”. Each month, Derek will give his brother a book (fiction, non-fiction or poetry), and pay him to read it. At the end of the month, they will meet and discuss the book, its content, what it said to them both, and what lessons (if any) it offered.  As much as this is a book about connecting to literature it is also a book about two brothers connecting with each other. 

Derek will pay his brother (who hates reading) to read a new book each month, ranging from fiction, non-fiction and poetry. At the end of each month the two brothers will meet to discuss the book, its content, what it said to both of them and any lessons it might have offered.

Teaching My Brother To Read is about two brothers connecting with each other through their own connection to literature.

Idris Elba of Green Door Pictures, commented:

“Derek’s book will be an inspiring exploration of brotherhood and how literature can influence and transform lives. We are genuinely excited about adapting this book as a work of fiction and non-fiction.”

In addition to writing the book, Owusu will record a Teaching My Brother To Read podcast.

We’re very excited that Green Door Pictures have picked up the film/TV rights to this wonderful project. The book is set to release in 2021, following his first solo work That Reminds Me, a novel-in-verse, also published by #Merky Books, on 14^th November 2019.