Alexander Wright Masters is an English author, screenwriter, and worker with the homeless. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Masters is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady. He was educated at

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

, and took a first in physics from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He then went to

St Edmund's College, Cambridge St Edmund's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, it is the second-oldest of the three Cambridge colleges oriented to mature students, which accept ...

for a further degree in maths, and then the beginnings of a PhD in the philosophy of quantum mechanics. He was studying for an MSc degree in mathematics with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

, and working as an assistant at a hostel for the homeless in Cambridge, when he wrote his first book. He is the writer and illustrator of '' Stuart: A Life Backwards'' (), the biography of Stuart Shorter. It explores how a young boy, somewhat disabled from birth, became mentally unstable, criminal and violent, living homeless on the streets of Cambridge. As the title suggests, the book starts from Shorter's adult life, tracing it back in time through his troubled childhood, examining the effects his family, schooling and disability had on his eventual state. Masters wrote the book with Shorter's active and enthusiastic help. Both Masters and Shorter helped campaign to secure the release of the Cambridge Two – Ruth Wyner and John Brock – who had been convicted in 1999 of failing to prevent heroin from being dealt at the Cambridge homeless shelter they were managing. Masters helped to organise protests and provided administrative help whilst Shorter undertook a three day occupation of the pavement in front of the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

in protest of the conviction. Wyner and Brock were released following a successful appeal in July 2000 and Wyner later praised Masters and Shorter's vigorous campaigning saying, "I owe them everything." Alexander Masters won an Arts Council Writers' Award for ''Stuart'' and went on to win the

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspa ...

and the

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the pre ...

. The book was also shortlisted (in the biography category) for the Whitbread Book-of-the-Year Award, the

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

, and the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

, and broadcast in September 2007. It won the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Award in the Single Drama category and the Reims International Television award for the Best TV Screenplay. In 2007, he collaborated with photographer Adrian Clarke on the book ''Gary's Friends'', chronicling the lives of drug and alcohol abusers in

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. Masters is also the author of ''The Genius in My Basement'' (), a biography of mathematician Simon P. Norton. In 2016, Masters published ''A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in the Trash'' () Alexander Masters has been portrayed by

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Benedict Cumberbatch, various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurenc ...

in ''Stuart: A Life Backwards'' the 2007

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

dramatization of his biography of Stuart Shorter.

Publications

References

External links

* *
Alexander Masters' staff CV

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

department of humanities website
"'Knife Man Dan' lives on in print"
Peter Taylor-Whiffen, review of ''Stuart: A Life Backwards'' in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 7 June 2005 Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People educated at Bedales School Alumni of St Edmund's College, Cambridge Alumni of King's College London English biographers English screenwriters English male screenwriters English people of American descent 21st-century English biographers 21st-century English screenwriters 21st-century English male writers English male biographers {{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub