Ashley Hickson-Lovence

Ashley Wayne Hickson-Lovence (born 1991) is a British author and lecturer in creative writing.

Life Hickson-Lovence was born at Homerton University Hospital in East London, England, and grew up in Hoxton and Holloway. He is of Saint Lucian, Grenadian and, through his paternal grandmother, a quarter Irish descent.

In 2012, Hickson-Lovence graduated from the University of Sussex with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. After receiving his Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the UCL Institute of Education in 2014,

In his spare time, he formally observes semi-professional referees for the Football Association. Alice Jones, writing for Hackney Citizen, praised the realism of the novel, saying: "That's the beauty of this novel; I don't think I've ever read a book that seemed so real. And this sense of realism is underpinned by the novel's firm situation in East London; the route is signposted throughout, and locals will recognise the landmarks."

His second novel Your Show, published in 2022, is a novelisation of the professional life of Uriah Rennie, the Premier League's first and only black referee. while Joseph Owen described it as "a percussive, breathless novel" in The Literary Review. Jonathan Lieu, writing for The Guardians sports blog, noted the continued relevance of the novel to racialised exclusion in football and the ongoing abuse of referees. For Lieu, "the most affecting of the novel are the stuff we know happened".

Hickson-Lovence is currently writing his third novel, About to Fall Apart.

Adaptations In 2019, Second Generation acquired the rights to adapt The 392 for screen.

A stage adaptation of The 392 was penned by Toby Clarke. Produced by ALT Productions, the play had an Off West End in 2025 at Brixton House.