Alex Wheatle author page

Biography

Alex Wheatle, who was born in London in 1963 to Jamaican parents, spent much of his childhood in a Shirley Oaks Children’s Home. He was a founding member of the Crucial Rocker sound system at the age of 16; his DJ name was Yardman Irie. In Brixton, south London, he wrote lyrics about everyday life.

Wheatle was living in a social services hostel in Brixton by 1980, and he took part in the 1981 Brixton riots and their aftermath. He read authors such as Chester Himes, Richard Wright, C. L. R. James, and John Steinbeck while serving his sentence. Wheatle’s Rastafari cellmate was the one who encouraged him to start reading books and care about his education.

Wheatle has since spoken out about the Brixton riots, most notably in the 2006 BBC documentary Battle for Brixton. His early books are based on his experiences as a teenager in Brixton and in the care of social services.

In 1999, he won the London Arts Board New Writers Award for his debut novel Brixton Rock, which was adapted for the stage and performed at the Young Vic in July 2010.

Books by Alex Wheatle

• Liccle Bit
• Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers
• Crongton Knights
• Brixton Rock
• The Dirty South
• East of Acre Lane
• Straight Outta Crongton
• Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic: Words and Pictures on How to Stop
• Worrying and Learn to Love the Alien Next Door
• Home Girl
• Island Songs
• Brenton Brown
• Kerb Stain Boys
• Checkers
• Home Boys
• City of Stories
• Redemption song

Book lists featuring Alex Wheatle