An interview with author Alex Wheatle - December 2001

Alex Wheatle is one of the UK's most exciting writers. Raised in Brixton of Jamaican parentage, his career took off with the arrival of his first novel "Brixton Rock". His second publication, "East of Acre Lane", received widespread critical acclaim and won the Arts Board's New London Writer's Award.

Both novels are centred on young people, struggling to deal with the tough street life of Brixton during the late 70s and early 80s. Alex's writing is vibrant and fast-paced, veritably throbbing with the fat reggae b-lines and beats of the era. What's more, the dialogue is to die for, full of rhythm and humour and begging to be heard. A new book, "The Seven Sisters", is due out in Summer 2002. In a departure from earlier themes, it deals with the lives of 4 children in care who decide to run away.

My Village popped down to South London to have a chat with Alex about his work, as well as his views on Brixton today ...

How did you first get into writing?
I spent most of my misspent youth running a party sound system - from the age of about 16 through to my early 20s. It was called 'Crucial Rocker' and for some reason, the guys I ran the sound system with decided that I was gonna be on the microphone. You know, entertaining the crowd, while they were looking for special requests and stuff like that. And I kind of enjoyed it. I'd just make up little rhymes, ditties and jingles or whatever you wanna call them.

Anyway, once the pace started to tell and the sound system thing folded, I thought no more of it. But during that time, I'd kept a kept a note pad full of lyrics and I carried it on, writing little rhymes and so on, not expecting anything to come of it.

And then the poetry thing came to Brixton at the end of the 80s. I saw the Nu Yorican Poets performing and I was really fired by it. Suddenly you had all these poets wanting to express themselves, and venues were opening up. There was one on Acre Lane called the Brixton Brasserie (now the Z Bar) and on one Friday every month, they'd have a Poetry Jam. They'd have established poets, and then a free hour for anyone to get up and do their stuff. I used to watch and observe and then after a while, I made that step and got up and read my stuff - and I enjoyed it - it was a way of getting angst off your chest. After a while, I noticed that my lyrics were getting longer and longer until someone advised me to maybe turn it into a book or something.

How did you make that difficult transition from poetry/lyrics into prose?
It was quite a difficult step but I just started trying to write a story. I had a bit of an idea of what to write about - I spent some of my childhood in homes and so I thought maybe I could turn the situations I'd seen and heard and experienced into some kind of storyline - and that's how Brixton Rock came about, talking to friends and that - and thinking I could re-write all our stories.

Did you surprise yourself?
I was quite surprised that I could start writing a novel. After a long period of time, writing it long hand, then getting one of those really heavy typewriters, and then getting an Amstrad, and so on, I managed to get it done by about 1997.

During that time, I did a couple of creative writing courses, usually with some old playwright who's about 90. It didn't do a lot of good to be honest, but at least it gave me an audience for my work and I used to get feedback. I also met quite a few people who'd up my confidence, telling me I could do it - we encouraged each other really.

So yeh, I surprised myself. I didn't really believe I could do it, you know, with my background. I thought that to write a novel, you had to go to University or whatever. But I did it. It took a few re-writes to get it into publishable condition and in early 1998, I started sending it out to potential publishers. I got about 25 rejections until Black Amber came along. They're independent publishers - and they decided to take it on - and it came out in 1999.

How did that feel, having your first book published?
It was just amazing seeing my book in bookshops. If I do nothing else in this life, that feeling of first seeing my book in a bookstore lets me know that I did something. It's something to be proud of, something to tell my kids and my parents. My father's in Jamaica and he told the whole village. When I went out there to promote it, every one knew me - in fact I was received better over there than I was here.

Why do you think that is?
I think to a large extent, because you're trying to sell your stuff to Middle England, you get marginalised. Instead of being called a storyteller, you get called a black urban commentator or whatever. There's not an acceptance of different ideas or genres and it's very elitist. I know Irving Welsh had the same problems at first but it just goes to show that given the chance, stuff that's heavy with dialogue can still be successful. If the story's good enough, why not? The success you see with Zadie Smith is a good thing, but I would say that there are many of us who should get the attention she's had.

What's it like being recognised as a writer?
People sometimes stop me in the street and say to me, 'Yeh Alex, that's what it was like, you hit the nail on the head.' Reviewers and critics can say this and say that, but I get more satisfaction when ordinary people come up to me and say i'm doing a good job than any review.

Your work actually comes across as working class writing, rather than 'black urban' writing - would you agree?
Definitely. I try to write about what it's like to be the underdog. I would say classism and elitism in this country are much more dangerous than racism. Jah Nelson says this in "East Of Acre Lane" and I do like to put certain views across through my characters. I do believe that the majority of people who live in this country are very tolerant and people get on. That's what I've found in my working life on builiding sites and engineering. I've done readings of my work in all parts of the country and I've been received quite warmly wherever I've been, and that's really encouraging to me. My stories are accpetable to whoever - if they get to know about them!

What comes first? The story, or the documenting of history?
The story comes first, but I pluck out certain incidents from the past, and mix them together into a story. For example, take Biscuit in East of Acre Lane - all those things might have happened to five or six people. I take all these incidents, and put them all together and try to make a decent story.

The rhymes that characters such as Yardman Irie use in East of Acre Lane - are they yours?
Yeh they are my rhymes. One day, I'd like to tidy up a lot of those lyrics and maybe publish them.

Your stories contain incredibly rich dialogue that seems tailor-made for the radio or the screeen. Are there any plans for this to happen?
Well it's funny you should say that. Here'a a bit of an exclusive for you. The BBC has the rights to East Of Acre Lane and I'm in meetings with a producer and script writers about a possible dramatisation. It could well start filming by next spring or summer, which would be great if it happens.

They were obviously pretty rough times in Brixton in the early 80s.
Yeh, but there were good times as well. I would say that now, I mainly can't believe how narrow-minded those times were in Brixton. At the age of 16, I just didn't know what was happening in the world - but then it struck me that I knew nothing once I started to find out. You know, atrocities in Africa or whatever - and I suddenly realised 'God! We think we've got it bad!'

I think we all had that realisation as we got older. We started to actually watch the news. And a lot of stuff like that comes from reggae music too. When you get older, you start to look into the lyrics a lot more and that's why I rate people like Burning Spear so highly - it's an education in itself.

So who are your heroes?
I love football so people like Pele, Bobby Moore, George Best. Music heroes - Marley, Burning Spear, Stevie Wonder, Dennis Brown, Marvin Gaye, Jim Morrison. Then once I got older, people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, JFK, Lech Walesa - basically, people who were underdogs. You could relate it to what we were experiecing in Brixton.

Who are the heroes for today's youth?
It's a strange time and there are very few heroes. Sometimes I think if there's no desperate situations and when it gets calm and whatever, it goes like this. We're living in a bland culture so we have stupid boy and girl bands. In the music world, who can my children can look up to? I mean P Diddy - what's he saying? What's he done? Apart from appearing in videos with loads of money and throwing it in your face. There are people around who are lyrical geniuses but how are they advancing the cause of the underdog?

Do you think Brixton is still a dangerous place that could explode again, like it did in 1981?
I still think there's tension bubbling under the surface in Brixton. There's an undercurrent of certain youngsters who want to mimic the yardies. Often when you read about a yardie killing, it isn't yardies at all. The killers were born here and are armed to the teeth.

That scares me to death - that kids can go through school and think that nothing will happen to them if they go on this path of killing. In my day, there was the odd knife fight but i never heard of anyone getting shot ever - and that scares me. Even if there isn't another riot, people are getting killed. I believe it is the influence of american culture on our society.

I don't think there'll be a riot on the scale of 81. The thing is, in 81, we all knew each other. The community was close. We all knew things were gonna go bang. I don't think the community is so much like that in Brixton these days. It was mainly Jamaicans but I think maybe they've been replaced by North and West Africans. It seems like they've swapped places and taken over the poverty that the previous occupants had to endure.

What do you think can improve the situation in Brixton?
I like to think that there's a counterculture to all this. That's why i created Jah Nelson in East of Acre Lane. He's based on a few people I used to know in Brixton. People with influence, such as musical artists and so on, they need to cool down the situation. They need to be saying to the young people 'What are you doing about the situation, yourself? What education have you got? What can you do to improve the situation?', rather than every one blaming each other.

I also think Paddick, the local Police commander, he's alright. I think he's willing to join the debate on how to make Brixton a better place. He engages in a dialogue with the community and i think that's a good thing.

And some people from my past won't believe i'm saying this - but i also think that, in order to stop it being a 'them against us' situation, i really thnk it's time for the black community to join the police force in greater numbers.

What Alex Wheatle loves about Brixton

Is Brixton a better place for going out these days?
I must say that I feel much more at ease going out in Brixton these days. Of course there's still an edge on places like Coldharbour Lane, but there's so many more bars and restaurants to go to - it's full of places you can go for a good meal.

Favourite local restaurant?
The Z Bar. I've got a lot of happy memories there.

Favourtite bar?
Again, the Z Bar. I also quite like the bar in the Ritzy cinema.

Describe Brixton in three words?
Alive and vibrant.

MyVillage, 05th May