Michaela Coel's Misfits is a triumph of inclusion

Michaela Coel made Emmy-winning history on September 2021 for best writing in a limited series for "I May Destroy You". The Ghanaian-born British poet, musician, actress, screenwriter, director and producer delves into the writing process of the acclaimed HBO series in this memoir "Misfits: A Personal Manifesto" (2021) published by Ebury Press.

The story begins at Coel's London home during a TV night where she meets a moth, a symbol of bad omen and death that becomes her spirit animal and a motive explaining her traumatic experience of rape, malpractice and poverty. The moth is also pictured in the cover art highlighting its importance for the story. As a complimentary piece and homage to her background as a poet she offers the classic poem "Ode on Melancholy" by her favorite poet John Keats as an introduction to the dark subject matter of mental health issues in her book.

Coel's story morphs into a fast-paced autobiography. Her growth story is about her different stages and development as a writer. It's most of all a triumph of friendship and inclusion and becoming a ground-breaking black woman with historical achievement early on her career. We get to hear about birth of the comedy hit series "Chewing Gum".

Michaela Coel drops a gem of wisdom about turning your alienation into humour and that's what "Chewing Gum" is about. That's also what "Misfits" is about - gems of wisdom and empowerment carried out with clever notions of humour here and there. "Misfits" is about finding your own strength against the bias of the industry. It's brave and honest advocacy for mental health.

"Misfits" is a remarkable statement based on Michaela Coel's MacTaggart Lecture by the time of Black Earth Rising on Netflix. I highly recommend watching the lecture beside reading the book or best after reading the book to avoid spoilers. Her speech at the Edinburgh TV festival is eloquent, humorous and poetic like a lengthy spoken word performance complimenting her background as a poet.

Her speech and book deliver an important and current message of consent and bodily autonomy where no is the most powerful word. Her speech and book are targeted to people of alternative lifestyles. Those of LGBTQ+ and mental health issue backgrounds will find solace on these pages. Black, brown, Latinx and commercially unattractive girls get their flowers. Hereby this book speaks to the feminist as well. However, writers and those pursuing a career in the culture industry reap the benefits and make the core audience with insight.

Michaela Coel is above all a storyteller as a writer. She is skilled at adding substance to where little is provided referring to the small scale and packaging of this book of 112 pages. Yet another influence and homage to her background as a poet. However, her chosen short form of a speech turned into autobiography is a closest equivalent to a growth novella. There are flashbacks, foreshadowings and imagery reminiscent of the form. She boldly uses language and metaphor as a means to spark a reaction in her mission of uncovering taboos.

Her obvious skill and vision leave us hungry for more as she wisely leaves the door open with a decent amount of gaps and indeterminate parts in her storytelling. However, if she hopefully decides to author another book in the future her poetry could be of utmost interest for the new fans who only learned about her in the recent years in the wake of her Netflix breakthrough. Outside of literature her other projects of interest could be her early music and her upcoming role in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever".