Meet Ben Brooks

Read up on this hotly tipped, 19 year old author and his modern-day teenage kicks tales.

By the time he was 18, Ben Brooks had already written four books, but it’s his fifth one, Grow Up, a sprightly tale of modern-day teenage kicks with a slight Skins tone, that’s woken the literary world from its summer slumber. From amusing experiments with drugs to rap-rock hooligans Die Antwoord, there are pop culture references aplenty in his coming of age novel as the precocious main character Jasper attempts to negotiate girls, exams and parties. Ben says the book is largely based on his own adolescence. How much of it is drawn from real-life experiences? “More than I would admit to my Mum.” Now 19, Ben recently upped sticks to London from sleepy Gloucestershire in order to take full advantage of the opportunities being presented to him by his publisher, Canongate, and others. Here’s an extract from Grow Up: 'Jasper?' 'Who is it?' 'Abby.' 'Uh. Hi, Abby.' 'My period is late by two weeks, Jasper.' 'THEN FUCKING HURRY IT UP.' Tears (not mine). 'I think I'm pregnant Jasper.' 'I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number.' I hang up. I am insensitive and cruel. I am scared. Could you tell us a little about where you moved to in London, and why you decided to move to the capital? Ben: I moved to Telegraph Hill, I think. It was about three months ago. The other day a cab driver said Telegraph Hill didn’t exist and that I live in New Cross. Moving to London always seemed like an obvious thing to do. It probably does for a lot of people. Things happen here. People are here. Lots of them. What were your earliest, or most vivid, impressions of London when you were younger? Going past glowing buildings in a bus every Christmas to watch Dick Whittington with school. Seeing £1m in the Millennium Dome. Repeatedly Googling “free ways to get to London” when I was 12. The Houses of Parliament on television. Do you imagine London will have an effect on how you write, and what you write about? It probably will and I probably won’t notice. There’s nothing really new here, just more of everything. Murakami said the earth was “put here to nourish human loneliness”. You can see that here. Maybe that will change something. Do you find inspiration travelling around the city, or do you find you're mainly in front of the computer, emailing? Both. It would be good to be more active, but I’m not. I think I need to spend more time in front of the computer though. I don’t do enough. What is it you like about London? There’s more than one bookshop here. And you don’t have to walk past everyone you know just to buy new shoes in town. Has the attention for Grow Up surprised you in any way? I didn’t think anyone would notice it. So yes. Everything that happens is surprising. Every time people say nice things or I see it somewhere or it gets reviewed. What are you working on at the moment? A book about an unhappy ten-year-old who likes Vanessa Carlton and Antarctica. Also, eating better. Also, kickstarting the growth of a dense cloud of facial hair.