Jordan Stephens

 Jordan Stephens is a writer and performer, best known as one half the chart-topping duo, Rizzle Kicks. He’s also appeared as an actor in television including: Catastrophe, Feel Good and Glue, and films including: Stars Wars: Rogue One and most notably TUCKED, in which he played drag queen Faith. Having been publicly open with his own struggles surrounding mental health, Jordan has been very active in creating awareness around the stigma. His mental health campaign #IAMWHOLE reached over 120 million people online and was mentioned in the Houses of Parliament. Jordan also wrote an article in The Guardian about the negative effects that machoism has on men’s wellbeing and has been regularly invited on television and at festivals to further discuss the matter. His children’s book “The Missing Piece” was recently shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Prize. Jordan also received an RTS nomination for his presenting of the ITV2 show Don’t Hate The Playaz. Which was also the first show on television to have an all black all female panel. Jordan has also made music as part of Wildhood, and is currently making new music under his full name Jordan Stephens. He lives and works in London.

Forthcoming publication:

AVOIDANCE, DRUGS, HEARTBREAK AND DOGS (Canongate, 22nd August 2024)

Love is a gift, isn't it? From our early childhood years to growing up and pairing off, it's a feeling we chase knowing we're better off with it. But what if love is claustrophobic and conflicting? And what if at the same time we're chasing addictions to drugs, drink, sex and chaos?

Diagnosed twice with ADHD, Jordan Stephens found his teens and twenties a whirl of career success and nurturing friendships but also a brutal pattern of self-harm, hedonism, destructive coping mechanisms and heartbreak. When he tried to live up to his own damaged expectations and his world exploded, he stepped away from his previous existence completely and allowed himself to explore the pain he'd repressed his entire life.

Unsparingly digging into the fear, tenderness and trauma he carried in his body and mind, and the confusing assumptions of what a young man should be, Jordan Stephens discovers what it means to be a modern man, why we should all open ourselves up to life, and how the price we pay for love in all its forms is worth it.

Praise:

"From the first sentence, you know you are reading something necessary, urgent, and totally original" -  Afua Hirsch  

"Brutally honest as well as poetic. I'm totally beguiled by it" - Dolly Alderton  

“Funny, shocking, and downright fucked up at times, it's like Jordan crawled into my brain and took notes. If you've ever had to overcome something in your life, this book is a must-read. Seriously, don't miss it!” - Ashley Walters

‘Beautifully written, lyrical, visceral, staccato, cathartic. Feels like late night deep chats & confessions with an old friend. I giggled, i winced, cried + I gave my inner child a big hug. I loved it’ - Jessie Mei Li

‘Jordan speaks towards that quiet place of what we get up to when nobody understands what is inside our heads. Life looking at life. A child floating in a flat. Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak & Dogs is comforting in its steady honesty that sometimes you can't recognise your own patterns without genuine self-love and community. It's the book equivalent of ringing a friend who's already been through it so that you don't have to feel what you're feeling alone’ - Tice Cin

"Intimately life-affirming . . . tackles enormously complex questions. Essential reading for men of all ages" - Caleb Femi  

"Jordan Stephens shares his life as a kaleidoscope adventure in full ADHD colour with immaculately told stories sharing the bad and the good. What a glorious book, and what a journey" - Kat Brown

"A brutal tour de force. Jordan's writing fizzes with vitality and urgency, and I was hooked from page one. He writes so beautifully about what it is to struggle as a young man today, and how hard it can be to build yourself when you haven't been given the necessary tools. Yet this is a tale of hope and optimism, and a book that every man should read" - Charlie Condou