Alex Wheatle - In The Ends for Secondary Schools

Born in London to Jamaican parents on the 3rd January, 1963

Alex spent most of his childhood in social services care.

A huge fan of reggae, in his mid teens Alex was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system where he wrote lyrics for performances in community halls, youth clubs and blues dances in South London.

His first novel, Brixton Rock, was published to critical acclaim by BlackAmber Books in 1999.

Alex won the London Arts Board Writers Prize in 2000.

East of Acre Lane was published by Fourth Estate/Harper Collins in 2001

The Seven Sisters/Home Boys was published by Fourth Estate/Harper Collins in 2003

Island Songs was published by Allison & Busby in 2005

Checkers, co-written with Mark Parham, was published by the X-Press in 2006

The Dirty South was published by Serpents Tail in 2008

Alex was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008

Brenton Brown, the sequel to Brixton Rock, was published by Arcadia in 2011

Alex wrote and performed his own one man show, Uprising in 2011.  Produced by Tara Arts, Alex toured the UK with the show in 2011 and 2012.

Alex’s first young adult novel, Liccle Bit, was published by Little, Brown in March 2015. It was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2015.

Shame & Scandal, Alex’s debut play, played to sold out audiences at the Albany Theatre, Deptford in October, 2015.

Crongton Knights, the follow-up novel to Liccle Bit, was published by Little, Brown in March 2016.

Crongton Knights won the Guardian’s Children’s fiction award for 2016.  It also won the Renaissance Quiz Writers’ Choice Award and was shortlisted for the 2017 Bookseller Young Adult prize.

Crongton Knights was adapted by Emteaz Hussein into a stage play for Pilot Theatre and toured the UK January/February 2020.

Straight Outta Crongton, the third in the Crongton trilogy, was published in April, 2017.

Kerb Stain Boys, a Crongton novella, was published in October 2018.

Home Girl, the fourth in the Crongton series, was published in April, 2019.

Shortlisted for the Neustadt prize for children’s literature 2020.

Cane Warriors published in October, 2020.  It was shortlisted for many awards including the Carnegie Medal.

Kemosha of the Caribbean was published in March, 2022

Witness was published in September, 2022

Steve McQueen directed a television drama that related the tale of Alex’ young life for the BBC in 2020.

Alex was presented with a doctorate for his services to literature by the University of Sussex in 2022.