Matt Cain (writer)

Cain was born in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, and brought up in nearby Bolton. He was educated at state schools and then Cambridge University.[1]

Between 1999 and 2009, he made 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.[2]

In 2010, Cain become Channel 4 News' first Culture Editor,[3] 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,[4] as well as interviews with Grayson Perry, the Spice Girls, Pedro Almodóvar and Emeli Sandé,[5] and was given access to Lucian Freud's studio following the artist's death.[6]

In 2013, Cain left Channel 4 News. His 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.[7] Whilst in the role he negotiated cover shoots and interviews with Sam Smith, Ricky Martin and James Corden, increasing sales by 5.4% year-on-year.[8] He launched and hosted the #AttitudeHeroes podcast, featuring guests Paul O'Grady, rugby player Gareth Thomas and Mark Gatiss, and attracting over 140,000 listens.[9] He ran the brands’ sponsored events; the Attitude Pride Awards, Attitude Bachelors of the Year, and the Attitude Awards. He also reported on his personal experience of HIV/AIDS prevention drug PrEP,[10] homophobia in Russia,[11] life for gay people in China, and the LGBT+ homelessness crisis in the United Kingdom.[12]

As a freelance journalist, Cain has written articles for The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, BuzzFeed, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph and The People.[13] He was a judge for the 2013 Costa Book Awards,[14] and the Polari First Novel Prize 2014.[15] and continues to judge the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.[16] He has been nominated for Stonewall's Writer of the Year award [17] and in September 2017 was voted winner of Diversity in Media's Journalist of the Year award.[18]

In October 2018 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.[19] The title reached its funding target in seven days, becoming Unbound's fastest-crowdfunded novel.[20] Pledges came in from 28 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, where homosexuality is illegal. The project was backed by celebrities including David Walliams, Mark Gatiss, Gok Wan, S. J. Watson, Lisa Jewell and Arlene Phillips.[21] The Madonna of Bolton was published by Unbound in July 2018.[22]

Cain is an ambassador for both Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, a national youth LGBT+ homelessness charity.[23] He's also a patron of LGBT History Month.[24] He lives in London.

• Shot Through the Heart
• Nothing But Trouble
• The Madonna of Bolton