Alexander Masters is the recipient of the 2005 Guardian First Book Award. His biography, Stuart : a Life Backwards, “documents the life of Stuart Shorter – homeless, alcoholic, violent.” Masters traces Shorter’s “route backwards through post-office heists, suicide attempts and spells in prison to the violent childhood that launched him onto the path of his later life.” See The Guardian for information on the winning book and the long- and short-listed titles. You can also listen to an interview with Alexander Masters and learn about the Guardian First Book Award, including previous nominees and recipients.
After the service, a crowd gathered by the grave. It is not a pauper's grave. It is the sort of grave that ordinary people dream of: under the boughs of a horse chestnut, in the company of yews and flocks of rooks, in a Norman churchyard. Beyond the aged wall that borders this blissful cemetery the hills and copses rise like waves. Stuart had made him- self a popular figure during the last three years of his life - and the homeless and the addicts paid their respects by throwing on to the coffin lid the things they said he'd need for the journey ahead: a packet of Rizlas and a pouch of tobacco containing some cannabis. – Alexander Masters, Stuart : a Life Backwards
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