Alex Wheatle honoured with MBE

Allison & Busby author, Alex Wheatle, has been hounoured in the Queen`s Birthday List 2008 (published on 14th June) with an MBE for services to literature.

Alex Wheatle is the acclaimed author of the cult-classic Brixton Rock and East of Acre Lane, as well as the more recent novel, Island Songs - a heartfelt and searing family saga that takes readers from the rural beauty of Jamaica to the dark streets of London. 

He has come an admiringly long way from what was not an easy nor model childhood. Born of Jamaican parents in South London he grew up in a brutal children’s home, but began writing poetry and lyrics and performing them at gigs when he was a teenager. He was expelled three times from comprehensives, had a spell in prison when he was 18 and fought the police in the Brixton Riots in 1981, but made a name for himself as the “Brixton Bard”.

He says his writing stems from the African/Caribbean oral tradition. He won the 1999 London Arts Board Prize for Brixton Rock and East of Acre Lane, won a grant from the Arts Council of England for Island Songs and has been describd as `a pro in prose` and `one of the most exciting writers of the black urban experience` by The Times.

Alex is extremely active working with Book Trust to introduce literature to the dispossessed and organises and holds workshops in prisons and young adult institutions.

The Queen`s Birthday Honours list 2008 pays tribute to outstanding achievement and service across the entire community.

All of us at Allison & Busby would like to congratulate Alex on his much-deserved award!