Alexander Stuart

Alexander Stuart is a Californian novelist, screenwriter and film producer. His novels, non-fiction and children's books have been translated into eight languages and published across the US, Britain, Europe and beyond.

Stuart's writing was profoundly shaped by the death from cancer of his first child, Joe Buffalo Stuart, who was five years old when he died in 1989. He wrote much of his most controversial novel, The War Zone, in the silences between life in hospital, while Joe lay sedated and receiving chemotherapy. Joe believed he would return as a seagull or a dolphin. Alexander has practised Buddhist anapanasati meditation — mindfulness of breathing — ever since.

The War Zone — a novel about a family destroyed by incest — was turned into a film of raw emotional power by actor and director Tim Roth. The book was awarded the Whitbread Best Novel prize on publication, though the award was subsequently withdrawn following an extraordinary conflict among the judges.

Born in Britain and now a long-time American citizen, Stuart is married to Charong Chow and lives in Marin County with their children and their dog Orzo, close to the Pacific and the natural world that sustains him.