15 February 2021
Justin Rollins’ The Lost Boyz celebrates its tenth anniversary as one of our best-selling titles this month – some feat for a book written by a reformed offender, that it should be consistently in demand for that length of time. This is the book that Inside Time described as ‘100 per cent raw talent’ something that has clearly been recognised more widely. Justin later wrote Street Crhymes a volume of poetry around the same events – growing-up on the streets, train lines and back alleys of south-London where he became the leader of a graffiti gang. This was before he changed his life around, gave-up violent crime, earned a living and worked, as he does today, to deter young people in trouble from crime, drugs and wasted days that were central to his day to day lived experience.
Both of Justin’s books became recommended reading in numerous colleges and universities and The Lost Boyz was adopted as a set text at two of these, Birmingham City University and Coventry University. Both are leading centres for the study of criminology and innovative teaching where Justin has been guest speaker, introduced and interviewed at BCU by such luminaries as TV’s Professor David Wilson.
The other good news is that the book is under option as a movie, and a proof of concept trailer for film festivals has now been released, titled No Dog. The film company is now actively seeking investment to turn it into a full feature film.
All at Waterside Press wish The Lost Boyz ‘very many more happy returns’ – as no doubt do the countless readers who have been inspired and entertained by his writing.
Bryan Gibson, Director, Waterside Press