Alex Wheatle
Alex Alphonso Wheatle MBE (born 3 Jan 1963) spent much of his childhood in a Shirley Oaks children's home. At the age of 16, he was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system; his DJ name was Yardman Irie. He wrote lyrics about everyday life
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Alex Alphonso Wheatle MBE (born 3 Jan 1963) spent much of his childhood in a Shirley Oaks children's home. At the age of 16, he was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system; his DJ name was Yardman Irie. He wrote lyrics about everyday life in Brixton, south London. His early books are based on his life in Brixton as a teenager and his time in social services' care. He received the London Arts Board New Writers Award in 1999 for his debut novel Brixton Rock, which was later adapted for the stage and performed at the Young Vic in July 2010. He wrote and performed Uprising, a one-man play based on his own life at Tara Arts Studios, Wandsworth, London. In 2011, he took Uprising on tour and performed it at the Writing On The Wall Festival, Liverpool, the Oxford Playhouse, the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, the Ilkley Playhouse and the Albany Theatre, Deptford. He is a member of English PEN, and he now visits various institutions facilitating creative writing classes and making speeches. He has also narrated an audio guide to the streets of Brixton. His young-adult novel Liccle Bit was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2016. His 2016 book Crongton Knights won the 50th Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
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