Novel about Manic Street Preachers’ Richey Edwards to be released

'Richard' by Ben Myers is out on October 1

A novel based on Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards will be out later this year.

Richard, out on October 1, has been written by author and journalist Ben Myers, and is a work of fiction based on the facts of Edwards‘ life.

Myers told NME that the book was a “version of a truth” about the life of guitarist and lyricist Edwards, who went missing in 1995 and has not been seen since.

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“The book is set against the backdrop of a Tory-run Britain in the 1980s and early 1990s,” Myers explained. “During those final pre-Britpop years before alternative music turned into something else.”

He added: “It takes in the rise of the pre-arena filling Manic Street Preachers, as well as exploring topics such as depression, aspiration, rehabilitation, camaraderie, Welsh identity, sub-zero graffiti-strewn dressing rooms and the sheer absurdity of a monstrous music business that has been known to eat its young.

“A lot has been written about Richey Edwards, but I thought a fictional setting would be a better medium to explore his personality, especially because he was a particularly literate person who injected a wealth of literary influences into a fairly staid British rock scene that was lacking any true iconoclastic voices at the time.

“The book is a fact-based work of fiction so one thing Richard doesn’t do is offer a hypothesis or explanation. It asks more questions than it provides answers and therefore is merely a version of a truth – as opposed to the truth.”

Manic Street Preachers‘ new album, ‘Postcards From A Young Man’, is out on September 20.

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