Liccle Bit: Book 1 (Crongton)

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He has since been called upon to talk on the subject of the Brixton riots, most prominently in the 2006 BBC programme "Battle for Brixton". His early books are based on experiences from his life living in Brixton as a teenager and his time in social services care. The second shortest 14 year old in his class, Lemar – Liccle Bit to his friends – feels he may never get a chance with Venetia, the hottest girl in school. At home life is crazy too with a mother too busy to pay him any attention, a sister with a foul temper and a baby by the local gang leader, a dad who left when he was seven. He does have his two best friends, his grandmother’s cooking and his talent for drawing. Just when Venetia asks him to draw her portrait, he is pulled deeper into the gang scene with the pressure mounting and the local inter-gang war escalating. He needs to get out of this mess and save his family from. With all of Alex’s brilliance for dialogue, LICCLE BIT is a story of redemption, of love, of family, of trying to hold your head up, of one boy’s journey. Sales Season six’s Magnolia Crawford has since left the persona behind, but is still active on social media under his out of drag name Reynolds Engelhart. And yep, he’s still quite sexy. Robbie Turner Enter our competition to win the Crongton series by Alex Wheatle Can you explain how you created the Crongton dialect? Alex Alphonso Wheatle MBE (born 3 January 1963) [1] is a British novelist, who was sentenced to a term of imprisonment after the 1981 Brixton riot in London. [2] Biography [ edit ]

When Caldonia points out the boys' lives don’t seem to be going places, their vague fantasy of robbing a post office is chivvied into reality.The plans descend into pure farce, including painted Star Wars toyblasters as their heist weapons! How much of yourself do you bring into these characters, is there any of your characters you are particularly like or is particularly like you? The humorous cusses bandied about by the main characters are like a book version of a rap battle, and as always with Alex Wheatle’s writing, there’s a core of morality and exploring the real feelings of teenagers honestly. Tell us about the world of Crongton, the setting for all of your children's books Liccle Bit, Crongton Knights, Straight Outta Crongton, Kerb-Stain Boys and now your latest book Home Girl?At least Lemar has art to help him escape, and it's even getting him some attention from the girl he likes, Venetia King. Yet Lemar has also gained the attention of South Crongton's most notorious gangster, and it's not long before he has Lemar running errands for him. Soon a chain of events will see Lemar down a road he never wanted to go down, will he be able to stop it? As a new gang war breaks out on his estate, Lemar discovers that South Crongton’s notorious gang leader has taken an interest in him. Before he knows what’s happening, he’s running errands. When he puts his own family in danger, Liccle Bit will be forced to question his choices. How can he possibly put things right?

What a gripping tale of family and friends, love and loyalty... Lemar's voice is so strong and I loved the humour in it too.' JRR Tolkien in 1956: He created new words, new phrases and indeed, two or three different languages. Photograph: Haywood Magee/Getty Images

For me it’s a rollercoaster of emotions that I’m trying to manipulate the reader into’ - Alex Wheatle on fictional world building, creating new language and seeing yourself in a book

So yes, there are definitely elements of my character bursting out of my fictional characters. I think as a writer you can't help but do that. The subconscious takes over, and fills your characters with your personality that you're sometimes even unaware of. Naomi (from Home Girl) and her anger and her rage being in the care system. She has some of that from me. And the fact that she thinks she's grown up, because she's 14, because she looks after her alcoholic dad. And when I was 14 and 15 I felt that I was grown up, I could take on responsibility. But in other ways, just like Naomi, I was a child. I didn't know about the outside world. I didn't know what barriers there were to contend with. I wasn't emotionally mature just like Naomi. Maybe like Mo as well (from Straight Outta Crongton). These themes tie all my characters in. You cannot help give away something of yourself in your characters. I guess my childhood is in my mind and the way I cope with it because my childhood was very traumatic. This is a brutal, bloody, terrifying story, compellingly written and heartstopping to read. Moa’s life before the rebellion makes the violence of the uprising feel like a release in the novel. Cane Warriorsisa book about doing the right thing, unbelievable bravery and deep friendship; but most importantly this book is about a part of British and Jamaican history that is hardly known, and the stories of these hard-won human rights need to be heard even though it’s uncomfortable.Today we have a variety of narratives and different perspectives. It's very diverse now. We've been talking about diversity for a number of years but I think we're getting there now. So really if we see a troubled young person in a school now, a very good librarian can say: try reading this. This might help you get over whichever issue you're contending with and I think that's a great place to be right now. I think YA and children's books are on the march on this, I think they're in front of adult literature which can sway away from these issues. In fact now I've been immersed in children's writing and young adult narratives I find it very difficult to get into adult literature. For me, it's too slow, the plot doesn't get going, and I can find it very hard to engage with what the author's trying to do or say. Again I think that evade and avoid the issues of today, issues that children have to go through. He now visits schools, colleges, universities, libraries and prisons facilitating creative writing classes and performing inspiring speeches. He has also narrated an audio guide to the streets of Brixton for soundmap. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Books are absolutely crucial in getting us to think about new worlds': we speak to the award-winning author, Onjali Q Rauf This book is a blast of fresh air and will appeal to all types of teenagers, from the booky to absolute reluctants (Barrington Stoke’s dyslexic sensitive publishing standards also help here).