Damian James Le Bas (born 11 May 1985) is a British writer and journalist from West Sussex in England best known for his book ''The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain''.

Life

Le Bas is the son of the artists

Damian Le Bas Damian Le Bas (30 January 1963, Sheffield – 9 December 2017, Worthing) was a British artist associated with the Outsider Art (or "Art Brut") label, as well a leading exponent of the "Roma Revolution" in art. Life Le Bas was of Roma heritage. ...

and

Delaine Le Bas Delaine Le Bas (born 1965) is a British artist from a Romany background. Biography Le Bas told the Travellers' Times that "I actually liked going to school which was difficult because I am the only one out of five of us that finished school. And ...

. He grew up in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

, attending

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

school and then reading Theology at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. His work as a journalist has included editorship of ''Travellers Times''. In 2018 he presented the BBC documentary ''

A Very British History ''A Very British History'' is a British documentary television series that was broadcast on BBC Four. The four-part series explores migration to Britain in the 20th century and the shift in culture in various minority communities. Production ...

: Romany Gypsies''. In 2019, he was part of a panel discussion on the theme of Identity at the

Alpine Fellowship The Alpine Fellowship is a charitable foundation that supports, commissions and showcases artists, writers, academics and playwrights. It was founded in 2013 by artist Alan J Lawson and Jacob Burda. The Symposium The focal point of activities ...

Bibliography

In 2018, Le Bas published ''The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain'', a mixture of memoir, travel writing and an exploration of Romani history in Britain. In June 2018, the book was featured on BBC Radio 4 as book of the week. Before its publication, ''The Stopping Places'' won a 2016

Jerwood Award The Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction were financial awards made to assist new writers of non-fiction to carry out new research, and/or to devote more time to writing. The awards were administrated by the Royal Society of ...

supporting authors writing their first major commissioned non-fiction work.

References

1985 births English male writers Living people People from Worthing 21st-century English writers People educated at Christ's Hospital Alumni of St John's College, Oxford English Romani people Romani writers {{UK-writer-stub