Pierre, D B C (1961– )

Australian-born British writer. His debut novel Vernon God Little (2003), a satirical look at US culture in which a 15-year-old boy is accused of a massacre at his Texan high school, won the 2003 Booker Prize and the 2003 Whitbread Prize for best first novel.

Pierre was raised in Mexico from the age of seven, travelling often to the USA. He entered a period of self-destructiveness after the death of his father when he was 16, and his subsequent reckless and sometimes criminal lifestyle and his encounters with poverty in both Mexico and Texas inspired his successful first novel. He has worked as a cartoonist and designer, and lives in Ireland. His acquired initials D B C stand for ‘Dirty But Clean’, a reference to starting afresh after his notorious past.