Comedian Tez Ilyas has announced details of his new book ‘The Secret Diary of a British Muslim aged 13¾’.

The book delves into his life as a teenager growing up in Blackburn through the late 90s and into the early noughties.

He said, “I can’t believe, that little old me, from a school that had a GCSE pass rate of 30%, has been given the chance to write a book.

“I genuinely cannot wait for people to read it.

“I really wanted to write this book to give people a trip down memory lane and to give a snapshot of what life was like as a young British Asian Muslim in 90s Britain. So much (too much?) has been said and written about us, maybe it’s time they heard from us?”

Tez was most recently seen on the hit sitcom Man Like Mobeen (BBC Three) and has appeared on Mock the Week on BBC Two. He starred in his own Channel 4 comedy pilot, 'Bounty', which went on to become the most watched show in the format’s 10 year history on YouTube.

He said the lockdown had given him an opportunity to write, “We had the idea just before lockdown and then it took three to four months to complete it.

“It features my antics at school through to my second year at college. I am excited for the people of Blackburn to read it.”

The book's synopsis says, "In Tez’s suitably dramatic roller-coaster of a teenage memoir, he takes us back to where it all began: a working-class, insular British Asian Muslim community in his hometown of post-Thatcher Blackburn. Running away from shotgun-wielding farmers, successfully dodging arranged marriages and having front row seats to race riots, you could say life was fairly run of the mill. But with a GCSE pass rate of 30% at his school, his own fair share of family tragedy around the corner and 9/11 on the horizon, Tez’s experiences of growing up as a British Muslim wasn’t the fun, Jihad-pursuing affair the media wants you to believe. Well, at least not always."

Emily Barrett, editorial director at Sphere, said, "Tez manages to deliver breaktheakingly razor-sharp and yet utterly laidback comedy, and that style and sense of purpose is what makes this book both hilarious and important. There are very few books about the British Muslim experience – and even less about what it was like to come of age at a time of intense prejudice against the Muslim community.

"I’m so thrilled Tez is redressing that balance and that Little, Brown is the lucky publisher to help him do that. This is a book for people who want to remember their own misspent youths, for anyone who likes laughing, for everyone who wants to further their understanding of racism in the UK, and for Tez’s loyal fan group, his Tezbians – which you’ll definitely become a part of once you’ve read the book, if you’re not already."

Tez's 'Populist' stand up UK tour which was due to take place this year will now begin in September next year and run through to November.

‘The Secret Diary of a British Muslim aged 13¾’ is out in April 2021.