Alex Wheatle is the author of critically-acclaimed novels Brixton Rock, and its sequel Brenton Brown, East of Acre Lane, The Seven Sisters, Island Songs and The Dirty South.
His award-winning young adult Crongton trilogy has been making waves for its hard-hitting but compassionate depiction of growing up on a tough estate.
Wheatle wrote and performed his own one man show, Uprising and his debut play, Shame & Scandal, played to sold out audiences at the Albany Theatre, Deptford.
A huge fan of reggae, Wheatle founded the Crucial Rocker sound system as a teenager where he wrote lyrics for performances.
He won the London Arts Board Writers Prize in 2000 and was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.