Alexander Masters is the author of Stuart: A Life Backwards, the critically acclaimed book
about a homeless man called Stuart Shorter who he met while studying at Cambridge
University and working in a homeless shelter. It won the Guardian First Book Award and was
chosen as a World Book Night Title. He wrote the television adaptation of the book — a joint
BBC/HBO venture from Sam Mendes’ studio. His latest book is The Genius in my
Basement, an intimate portrait of one of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the twentieth
century.