Career
Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents, Wheatle spent much of his childhood in a Shirley oaks children"s home. He wrote lyrics about everyday Brixton life. By 1980 Wheatle was living in a social services hostel in Brixton, South London.
He participated in the 1981 Brixton riots and aftermath.
While serving his resulting sentence he read authors such as Chester Himes, Richard Wright, C. L. R. James and John Steinbeck. he features bits of his life in his books such as East of Acre Lane characters Yardman Irie and Jah Nelson. Wheatle has since spoken about the Brixton riots, most prominently in the 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation programme Battle for Brixton.
His early books are based on his life in Brixton as a teenager and his time in social services" care. He wrote and performed Uprising, a one-man play based on his own life at Tara Arts Studios, Wandsworth, London.
In 2011 he took Uprising on tour and performed it at the Writing On The Wall Festival, Liverpool.
Oxford Playhouse. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Ilkley Playhouse and the Albany Theatre, Deptford.
Wheatle lives in London.
He has also narrated an audio guide to the streets of Brixton. In the Queen"s Birthday Honours 2008, Wheatle was awarded the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature.