Matt Cain (writer)

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Matt Cain

MBE
MattCainWriter2023.jpg
Cain in 2023
Born (1974-12-27) 27 December 1974 (age 50)
Bury Greater Manchester, England
OccupationNovelist, journalist and broadcaster, former TV producer
Nationality British
Notable worksThe Madonna of Bolton, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, Becoming Ted and One Love

Matthew Joseph Cain (born 27 December 1974) is a British writer and broadcaster. He is best known for the novels The Madonna of Bolton, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, Becoming Ted and One Love. In the New Year's Honours List 2025 Cain was awarded an MBE for services to LGBTQ+ culture [1] .

Contents

Career

Cain was born in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, and brought up in nearby Bolton. He was educated at state schools and then Queens' College [2] Cambridge University. [3]

Cain spent ten years making arts and entertainment programmes for ITV, including documentaries about Freddie Mercury, Mamma Mia! and The Da Vinci Code , and profiles of Ian McKellen, Darcey Bussell and Will Young for The South Bank Show . [4]

Between 2010 and 2013, Cain worked in front of the camera as Channel 4 News ' first-ever culture editor, [5] a role in which he attracted acclaim for his coverage of the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Mercury Music Prize and the Turner Prize, [6] as well as interviews with Grayson Perry, the Spice Girls and Pedro Almodóvar. [7]

Cain's first novel, Shot Through the Heart ( ISBN   978-1447238294), was published by Pan Macmillan in 2014. The second, Nothing But Trouble, ( ISBN   978-1447238300) was published in 2015.

Between 2016 and 2018 Cain worked as editor-in-chief of Attitude , a UK magazine for gay men. [8] Whilst in the role he negotiated world-exclusive covers with Sam Smith, Ricky Martin and James Corden, launched and hosted the #AttitudeHeroes podcast, [9] and ran the Attitude Awards, hosted by Tom Daley, with winners including Prince Harry and Kylie Minogue. He also wrote exclusive reports on his personal experience of HIV/AIDS prevention drug PrEP, [10] homophobia in Russia, [11] and life for gay people in China.

As a freelance journalist, Cain has written articles for all the UK's major newspapers and appeared on Sky News, BBC Breakfast and Good Morning Britain. He was a judge for the 2013 Costa Book Awards, [12] and the Polari First Novel Prize 2014 [13] and continues to judge the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. [14] He has been nominated for Stonewall's Writer of the Year award [15] and in September 2017 was voted winner of Diversity in Media's Journalist of the Year award. [16]

In October 2017 Cain crowdfunded his third novel The Madonna of Bolton ( ISBN   978-1783526185) via Unbound, after receiving over 30 rejections from publishers, reportedly due to its gay protagonist and theme. [17] The title reached its funding target in seven days, becoming Unbound's fastest-crowdfunded novel. [18] Pledges came in from 28 countries and the project was backed by celebrities including David Walliams, Mark Gatiss, Gok Wan, S. J. Watson, Lisa Jewell and Arlene Phillips. [19] The Madonna of Bolton was published by Unbound in July 2018. [20]

Cain is an ambassador for both Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, a national youth LGBT+ homelessness charity. [21] He's also a patron of LGBT History Month. [22] In 2021 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton. [23]

His novel The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle ( ISBN   978-1472275059) was published by Headline Review in May 2021. [24] In 2021 he presented the flagship discussion show Sunday Roast on Virgin Radio Pride, [25] returned to the station in 2022 to present Matt Cain Meets, [26] and again in 2023 with his husband to present Matt & Harry. [27]

Becoming Ted ( ISBN   978-1472291875), was published by Headline Review in January 2023. One Love was published in January 2024. [28] His short novel Game On ( ISBN   978-1035409730) was published as a Quick Read and is one of the official titles of World Book Night 2024. [29]

In the New Year's Honours List 2025 Cain was awarded an MBE for services to LGBTQ+ culture [30] . He lives in London with his husband, [31] Harry, and their cat, Nelly.

Publications

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References

  1. ↑ "The Greater Manchester heroes recognised for their lifetime of service". Manchester Evenings News. 30 December 2024.
  2. ↑ "Queens' is at the heart of Matt Cain's new novel". Queens' College Cambridge. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  3. ↑ "Matt Cain interview: In bed with TV's fluffiest culture editor" . The Independent. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Brown, Maggie (12 July 2010). "Meet Matthew Cain, Channel 4 News's first culture editor". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ "Matthew Cain – Channel 4 News". Channel 4 News.
  6. ↑ Harper, Leah (31 May 2014). "On my radar: Matt Cain's cultural highlights". The Guardian.
  7. ↑ Matt Cain (27 June 2013). "Showreel of Matt Cain - writer and broadcaster" – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ "Attitude.co.uk - Attitude and Winq magazine editorial teams to merge: Matt Cain appointed editor-in-chief". 9 December 2016.
  9. ↑ acast. "Attitude Heroes on acast".
  10. ↑ Cain, Matt (22 June 2017). "Sex without fear - my experiment with the HIV-prevention drug PrEP". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Cain, Matt (3 December 2017). "How homophobia feeds Russia's HIV epidemic". The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Brown, Mark (28 January 2014). "Costa book award won by Nathan Filer for debut novel, The Shock of the Fall". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ "Gallery". polariliterarysalon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  14. ↑ "South Bank Show Awards".
  15. ↑ "Biscuit nominated for Stonewall award! *Bi five*! - Biscuit". thisisbiscuit.co.uk.
  16. ↑ "2017 Winners". DIMA’s Diversity In Media Awards. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "Novel rejected as 'too gay'". TheGuardian.com . 6 October 2017.
  18. ↑ "Cains Novel Kickstarted".
  19. ↑ Flood, Alison (6 October 2017). "Novel rejected as 'too gay' receives flood of crowdfunding support". The Guardian.
  20. ↑ Publication for Cain's crowdfunded novel. ISBN   9781783526192.
  21. ↑ "Matt Cain on being an ambassador for AKT". Akt.
  22. ↑ "Matt Cain on being a patron of LGBT History Month". Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  23. ↑ "Bolton author "thrilled" as he receives Honorary Doctorate from home town University".
  24. ↑ "Matt Cain finds new home with Headline Review".
  25. ↑ "Virgin Radio UK launches LGBTQ+ station Virgin Radio Pride".
  26. ↑ "Virgin Radio Pride UK returns in June for more LGBTQ+ celebration and storytelling". 31 May 2022.
  27. ↑ "Matt & Harry: Paul David Gould, Pride Month & Relationship compatibility".
  28. ↑ "Watersone's One Love".
  29. ↑ "The Reading Agency reveals inspiring line-up of authors for the life-changing Quick Reads programme".
  30. ↑ "The Greater Manchester heroes recognised for their lifetime of service". Manchester Evenings News. 30 December 2024.
  31. ↑ Lisseman, Christian (17 April 2023). "Becoming Matt Cain". Big Issue North. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
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