Posted by Tinashe (Canterbury)
on 08 April 2011, 1:32:37 AM
Just been reading your story - Marechera's Ghost. Are you a fun of the Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera? And would you be interested to contribute in a Remembering Marechera anthology? Either ways I will be happy to heat from you. Tinashe
Patrick replies:
Hey Tinashe Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I've been out of the country ... in Zim, in fact ... yes, I'm a fan of Marechera. House of Hunger blew me a way. I'm not sure I'm qualified for such an anthology though ... Hope you're well patrick?
Posted by Courtney King (London)
on 14 March 2011, 6:21:42 PM
Hey I've been slow in finding you; I watched Stan Won't Dance do Babel last year and was transfixed... The dancing was cool and here were words I could relate to and understand. Thank you for that...
Posted by Pudeena (Tübingen)
on 18 November 2010, 12:40:15 PM
Maybe you remember: we met very briefly in Freiburg (emm, sitting across the table qualify? :) It was at this uni thingie...i was the quiet (terrified) indian girl across the table.
Well first, congratulations on the new comer in your life :)
I've actually read almost ALL your books and really love your style and "take". Recently I read an academic paper on twelve bar blues- it reminded me of the brilliance of it all and I had to falll in love with you (the author you anyway) and the book all over again!
I hope you don't mind your work being dragged into "solemn academia" too much, coz I'm about to close read your hip hop book as part of my phd project. I admit, It got a bit tiresome with all its details, but I guess thats part of the package. So this is where I ask you: ...why did you stop in Rio? No doubt, the book and your research is extensive and I can imagine at some point, it comes down to practicalities like financing. Still, out of curiosty I ask : Why did you leave out say the rather political Middle East hip hop scene? Or even the hiiuge German scene?
Cheers
Patrick replies:
Hey Pudeena I do remember going to Freiburg, but I don't remember you personally. Sorry. They're always a bit weird those trips ... it's a bit like being a monkey in the zoo. Academia? Honestly, I find it really flattering. In some ways I figure I'm a failed academic, so it's redemptive that any genuine scholar might take me seriously. Sorry you found the hip hop book tiresome. Why did I stop in Rio? Yep, practicalities covers it ... Basically, it was 'on the way' and I had a friend who told me some amazing stories and could get me in with the right people. And I think that proved to be true. I never intended the book to be exhaustive ... it was always going to be incomplete and anecdotal, so I tried to embrace that fact as feature not flaw! There were quite a lot of other places I researched and considered writing about (including Germany), but in the end I had an argument to make and a practical idea of how long the book should be ... so there you go ... Thanks for your interest and support, Pudeena. Stay well Patrick
Posted by Gina (Liverpool)
on 12 November 2010, 7:53:52 PM
Hey!
I recently watched Bable performed by Stan Won't Dance. It inspired me so much! Both the dance choreography and text, which leads me to ask:
I am doing my dissertation on the use of text in dance. How was it collaborating with Stan won't dance, if you did?
Also do Stan won't dance ever reply to emails? I need to ask them about dancer/writer collaboration...
Tar!!
Patrick replies:
Collaborating with Stan was cool; although it wasn't really a collaboration as such. I mean, we agreed up front that I would just write and they wouldn't bug me and then they could cut what they wanted and I wouldn't get precious about it! And do they ever reply to e-mails? Not so much ...
Posted by Kathleen (Ann Arbor)
on 25 October 2010, 11:20:24 PM
While interning in Warsaw this summer, I needed something to read on the long flight home. I went to the American bookstore and picked up your book Jerusalem. The cover art caught my eye, so I read the back and I just had to get it! I read it right away, so as soon as I got home, I went to my University library which has a lot of your books. I recently finished Twelve Bar Blues too, and I am very excited to begin Where You're At, as I love hip-hop. I manage to squeeze in reading for my own enjoyment between classes and for a bit in the evenings when I need to avoid mountains of schoolwork! Jerusalem and Twelve Bar Blues are so vivid, humorous, and emotional. I can only wonder who inspires some of your characters (I especially love Musa Musa!) and maybe I like the characters so much because you make them relatable, or at least they were for me. I love when I can get lost in a good book and forget all the things I need to do, even if only for a short while! Thanks so much for your wonderful writing!!
Patrick replies:
Thanks Kathleen! Bless you ...
Posted by Paul (Brighton)
on 08 October 2010, 10:51:42 AM
Read all your fictional novels and loved them.
Seems Simon Cowell might also be a fan?
Patrick replies:
Thanks for liking my books. But Simon Cowell? Eh? Are we talking Gamu here?
Posted by Joanna (Warsaw)
on 20 August 2010, 10:58:09 PM
I read books on a metro to work. The journey takes 20 minutes one way every day. Since I have been doing this for quite a long time now, I managed to develop my own criteria of books rating. The highest rate is assigned to a book that makes me unconsciously pass my stop and panic that I'm gonna be late for work. (Although it happened to me only twice so far: with "The Sirens of Titan" and "Polysyllabic Spree").
I also am a book addict. A serious one. To such an extent that when my supply dries out, I get all symptoms of a regular junkie: shaking, sweating, can't sleep, can't eat. You know, all stuff like that. So to avoid this not very pleasant feeling, every time the “stock level” gets close to zero, I run to an American Bookstore (a place in Poland where you can buy books in English - not necessary from America, fortunately).
Last time I was there, I found out there were no new books by my favorite authors. In despair, I started to go thru all pieces on the shelves, trying to get an inspiration. And suddenly "I was struck by lightning". Twelve Bar Blues.
I had absolutely no idea what it was and I have never heard of the author. But after I started reading, I knew right away that my life will never be the same. Ok, maybe not my life, but at least my book rating. Now the highest rate goes to a book which makes me cry of the finesse of the language and geniousity of the style. And which makes other metro passengers look at me like I was an idiot.
So I hope that from now on every time I go to this American Bookstore, I will find a new (master)piece of this English writer. And that he lives long enough to write a mountain of books, and becomes so old that the sun calls him "sir".
Respect.
Joanna
Patrick replies:
Hey Joanna Sorry it's taken so long to respond. Just had a baby and been incredibly busy and caught up in life. But, just to say - thank you! Every writer (who's not JK Rowling) feels like they're writing into a black hole most of the time. I am very humbled that you enjoyed Twelve Bar Blues so much, hugely grateful that you took the time to say so and, of course, desperately fearful that I'll never write anything again that makes you feel the same way! But I guess that's the fun of it ... Respect right back at you Patrick
on 08 April 2011, 1:32:37 AM
on 14 March 2011, 6:21:42 PM
on 18 November 2010, 12:40:15 PM
Well first, congratulations on the new comer in your life :)
I've actually read almost ALL your books and really love your style and "take". Recently I read an academic paper on twelve bar blues- it reminded me of the brilliance of it all and I had to falll in love with you (the author you anyway) and the book all over again!
I hope you don't mind your work being dragged into "solemn academia" too much, coz I'm about to close read your hip hop book as part of my phd project. I admit, It got a bit tiresome with all its details, but I guess thats part of the package. So this is where I ask you: ...why did you stop in Rio? No doubt, the book and your research is extensive and I can imagine at some point, it comes down to practicalities like financing. Still, out of curiosty I ask : Why did you leave out say the rather political Middle East hip hop scene? Or even the hiiuge German scene?
Cheers
on 12 November 2010, 7:53:52 PM
I recently watched Bable performed by Stan Won't Dance. It inspired me so much! Both the dance choreography and text, which leads me to ask:
I am doing my dissertation on the use of text in dance. How was it collaborating with Stan won't dance, if you did?
Also do Stan won't dance ever reply to emails? I need to ask them about dancer/writer collaboration...
Tar!!
on 25 October 2010, 11:20:24 PM
on 08 October 2010, 10:51:42 AM
Seems Simon Cowell might also be a fan?
on 20 August 2010, 10:58:09 PM
I also am a book addict. A serious one. To such an extent that when my supply dries out, I get all symptoms of a regular junkie: shaking, sweating, can't sleep, can't eat. You know, all stuff like that. So to avoid this not very pleasant feeling, every time the “stock level” gets close to zero, I run to an American Bookstore (a place in Poland where you can buy books in English - not necessary from America, fortunately).
Last time I was there, I found out there were no new books by my favorite authors. In despair, I started to go thru all pieces on the shelves, trying to get an inspiration. And suddenly "I was struck by lightning". Twelve Bar Blues.
I had absolutely no idea what it was and I have never heard of the author. But after I started reading, I knew right away that my life will never be the same. Ok, maybe not my life, but at least my book rating. Now the highest rate goes to a book which makes me cry of the finesse of the language and geniousity of the style. And which makes other metro passengers look at me like I was an idiot.
So I hope that from now on every time I go to this American Bookstore, I will find a new (master)piece of this English writer. And that he lives long enough to write a mountain of books, and becomes so old that the sun calls him "sir".
Respect.
Joanna