James Bowen (author)  James Anthony Bowen (born 15 March 1979) is an English author based in London. His memoirs "A Street Cat Named Bob", "The World According to Bob" and "A Gift from Bob", were international best-sellers. A film based on the first two books was released in 2016 and a sequel will be released in 2020. Bowen now dedicates his time to helping numerous charities that involve homelessness, literacy, and animal welfare. Bowen was born in Surrey in March 1979. Following his parents’ divorce, three years later he moved to Australia with his mother. As they moved frequently, Bowen seldom made friends and was often bullied at school. He later dropped out of education in his second year of high school, becoming a self-confessed "tearaway kid"; he was later questionably diagnosed with ADHD, schizophrenia and manic depression. In 1997, 17 years old, he returned to the United Kingdom to live with his half-sister and her husband in London. Tensions arose and the arrangement did not last. In time, he began sleeping on the streets. For the next few years, Bowen either slept in the streets or stayed in shelters, most of the time terrified of his surroundings. He began using heroin to deal with the pain from being homeless. In spring 2007, Bowen was enrolled on a methadone programme, busking in Covent Garden, and living in a supported housing programme in Tottenham, London. One evening he returned home to find a ginger cat in the hallway of his building. Assuming it belonged to another resident, he simply returned to his flat. When the cat was still there the following day, and the day after that, Bowen became concerned and discovered the cat was wearing no collar or ID tag, was too thin, had a very unhealthy coat, scratches on its face and an infected wound on his leg. Bowen checked with other residents to see if the stray belonged to any of them, and when none of them claimed ownership of the animal Bowen decided to help the cat. According to the account in "A Street Cat Named Bob", Bowen took the cat to the nearby RSPCA clinic, which provided antibiotics to treat the infected wound (which he barely could afford). To make sure the cat received the full two-week course of medication, Bowen took him in for a time, while he continued to look for the stray's owner. When he couldn't find any information, he released the cat back on to the street, hoping he'd find his own way home.