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Outlook: An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning

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Alex Wheatle in the 1980s

15/11/2023 GMT

An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning

BBC World Service - Outlook, An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning

How a book-loving prisoner showed a young Alex Wheatle the path to self-belief

Going to prison felt like the end for Alex Wheatle. But thanks to the support of his book-loving cellmate, he reclaimed his history and used it to become an award-winning author.

When award-winning author Alex Wheatle was sentenced to nine months in prison at the age of 18, he thought his life was over. It was the latest in a series of lows that he felt gave him ‘sufferah’ status – a Jamaican term for someone born into a life without privilege. Alex had been abandoned by his parents as a toddler, grew up in care in the notorious Shirley Oaks children’s home in London and then found himself in court for assaulting a police officer during the Brixton Riots. He felt totally alone and without hope. But as the door slammed on Alex’s prison cell, he met a book-loving man called Simeon who opened his eyes to the importance of his own history – and encouraged him to use his past to write a new and hopeful future.  

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Hetal Bapodra and Anna Lacey

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: A young Alex Wheatle in the 1980s. Credit: Alex Wheatle.)

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