Douglas Stuart (born 31 May 1976)[1][2] is a Scottish-American writer and fashion designer. Born inGlasgow, Scotland, he studied at theScottish College of Textiles andLondon'sRoyal College of Art, before moving at the age of 24 toNew York City, where he built a successful career in fashion design, while also beginning to write. Hisdebut novel,Shuggie Bain – which had initially been turned down by many publishers on both sides of the Atlantic – was awarded the2020 Booker Prize. His second novel,Young Mungo, was published in April 2022.
Douglas Stuart was born in 1976 inSighthill, a housing estate in Glasgow, Scotland.[2] He was the youngest of three siblings. His father left him and his family when Stuart was young, and he was raised by a single mother who was battling alcoholism and addiction.[3] His mother died from alcoholism-related health issues when he was 16. Subsequently, when he went on to write his debut Booker Prize-winning novel,Shuggie Bain, the book would be inspired by his struggles, his mother's struggles as she battled alcoholism and his relationship with his mother.[4] Speaking about his mother, he says: "My mother died very quietly of addiction one day."[5] After his mother's death, he lived with his older brother before moving into aboarding house when he was 17.[3]
Writing onLiterary Hub about working-class living in the late 1970s and 1980s, Stuart notes that he grew up in a house without books and surrounded by poverty. This was the time whenThatcher-era economic policies had "decimated the working man", moving industry away from the west coast of Scotland, leaving behind mass unemployment, alcoholism, and drug abuse.[6]
He received a bachelor's degree from theScottish College of Textiles (now Heriot-Watt University) and a master's degree from theRoyal College of Art inLondon.[3] He had no formal education in literature, and notes that while he wanted to studyEnglish literature in college, he was discouraged from choosing the subject by a teacher who mentioned that it would "not suit someone from his background", resulting in Stuart subsequently studying textiles instead.[3]
The novel received generally favourable review coverage once it was published, including inThe Observer,[27]The New York Times,[28]The Scotsman,[29]The Times Literary Supplement,[30]The Hindu,[31] and elsewhere. The book was praised for its authentic portrayal of post-industrial working-class Glasgow of the 1980s and early 1990s, and also for his capture of the "wry, indefatigableGlaswegian voice in all its various shades of wit, anger and hope."[5] Speaking at the Booker Prize award ceremony,Margaret Busby, chair of the panel, noted that the book was destined to be a classic, and went on to describe the work as a "moving, immersive and nuanced portrait of a tight-knit social world, its people and its values."[9]
In a conversation with 2019 Booker winnerBernardine Evaristo on 23 November 2020,livestreamed as aSouthbank Centre event, Stuart said: "One of my biggest regrets I think is that growing up so poor I almost had to elevate myself to the middle class to turn around to tell a working-class story."[21] Discussing the "middle-class" publishers' rejections he had received forShuggie Bain, he told Evaristo: "Everyone was writing these really gorgeous letters. They were saying 'Oh my god this will win all of the awards and it's such an amazing book and I have never read anything like that, but I have no idea how to market it'."[21] Stuart said in a 2021 conversation withCamilla then-Duchess of Cornwall that winning the Booker Prize transformed his life.[32]Shuggie Bain went on to win other accolades, including being chosen both as Debut Book of the Year and Overall Book of the Year at the 2021British Book Awards.[33]
In November 2020, Stuart revealed that he had finished his second novel, tentatively titledLoch Awe, also set in mid-1990s Glasgow.[34] The book is a love story between two young men, set against the backdrop of post-industrial Glasgow, with its territorial gangs, and divisions across sectarian lines. In his words, the book is about "toxic masculinity" and the violence that can stem from pressures on working-class boys to "man-up".[35][36] The novel was published under the titleYoung Mungo by Grove Press on 5 April 2022,[37] and by Picador on 14 April 2022.[38] Prior to its publication, it was described byOprah Daily as "a beautiful novel about family love and the dangers of being different in a violent, hyper-masculine world",[39] andKirkus Reviews concluded: "Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer."[40]
In November 2022, it was confirmed thatShuggie Bain was to be made into a television drama series, adapted by Stuart himself, to be filmed in Scotland and broadcast onBBC One andiPlayer.[43][44]
Stuart was the subject of a film profile entitled "Douglas Stuart: Love, Hope and Grit", first shown in November 2022 inAlan Yentob'sBBC One television arts documentary seriesImagine.[45][46]
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