Earlier this year Kevin Maxwell FRSA was awarded an MBE for services to Diversity through Literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021, for his memoir Forced Out, which details his experience of racism and homophobia in the police. It asks the important question: what needs to change?
Kevin served as a detective in both the Greater Manchester and London’s Metropolitan Police forces for over a decade. Speaking to the Independent newspaper, the author described the honour from Her Majesty The Queen as 'an acknowledgement by the state of the struggles faced by Black people in the UK.’
Kevin became a Fellow in 2015, at the same time completing an MA in Writing at Regent’s University London. He now writes and advocates for social justice and equality. He has written for newspapers and magazines including the Independent and the Guardian, and has appeared on television and radio for the BBC and Sky News.
Forced Out was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2021, a prize dedicated to LGBTQ+ writers. Kevin is working on a book about homelessness and housing, looking at how people rebuild their lives after loss. He tweets @kevin_maxwell