Patrick Neate (born 1970) is a British

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, screenwriter and podcaster.

Early life

Born and raised as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

in South

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he was educated at St. Paul's School and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. He spent a

gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is typically a year-long break before or after college/university during which students engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work. Gap yea ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

and has since returned to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

on many occasions. He drew on the gap year experience in ''Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko''.

Career

Novels

His books to date, in order of publication, include ''Musungu Jim'', '' Twelve Bar Blues'', ''London Pigeon Wars'', ''Where You're At'', '' City of Tiny Lights'', ''Culture is Our Weapon'', and ''Jerusalem''. ''Musungu Jim'', ''Twelve Bar Blues'' and ''Jerusalem'' are a trilogy in that the characters of Jim and Musa Musa are found in all three novels. However, each stands alone. In each, he takes a foreign culture and explores the nature of story and the power of stories to create identities. At its best, his writing is lyrical about the nature of humanity, and yet still sufficiently entertaining to count as an "easy read." ''Musungu Jim'' envisages a coup triggered off by a hapless gap year student in an African dictatorship not unlike Mugabe's Zimbabwe. ''Twelve Bar Blues'' interweaves various characters but focusses chiefly on Lick Holden, a semi-mythical horn player, not unlike the legendary

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an African American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later ca ...

. In ''The London Pigeon Wars'', he attempted to talk about his own milieu, London, but the twist comes through the fact that part of the

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...

is focalised through the

pigeons Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

who are at war in the area. Thematically, it tackles the dangers of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

. ''City of Tiny Lights'' is a further change of genre, entering the mystery thriller. This time, the publication uncannily coincided with the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

as his

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

-loving detective, Tommy Akhtar, uncovers crime that leads into terrorist cells. ''Where You're At'' draws on Neate's first love, hip-hop. A work of non-fiction, it shows the author crossing the planet to uncover the meanings hip-hop has accrued in different cultures. ''Jerusalem'' follows on from ''Musungu Jim'' and ''Twelve Bar Blues''. It uses a three-way plot line: the first plotline follows a soldier at the time of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

struggling with Englishness; the second concerns Jim, Musa and the dictator of Zambawi; the third, a contemporary take on Britain, following style guru Preston Pinner, creating a new hip-hop sensation "Nobody", whose take on

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

plays out as a major hit. Across his work, recurring themes are the ability of re-envisage common situations from an alternative point of view, to imagine himself into a completely different world and to realise the importance of story in establishing one's self-identity.

Screen and performance

Neate wrote the screenplay for the 2016 film '' City of Tiny Lights'', starring

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...

and based on his novel of the same name. Neate also wrote the screenplay for the film '' The Tesseract'', adapted from the book by

Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English writer and filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a novelist in the late 1990s with his novel '' The Beach'', which led some critics to call Garland a key voice of Generation X. He subsequ ...

. Neate's longform poem "Babel" was transformed into a physical theatre piece by acclaimed choreographers, Stan Won't Dance, in 2010. A passionate supporter of literary diversity, Neate founded Book Slam with

Ben Watt Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt (born 6 December 1962) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, author, DJ and radio presenter, best known as one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Early life Watt was born in Marylebone, London, and grew ...

(from

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Wat ...

), a prominent and well-regarded storytelling salon in which writers, poets and singer-songwriters perform in a nightclub environment.

Journalism

Publications for which Neate has written include ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', ''Building'', ''Hospital Doctor'', '' The Face'', ''Doctor'', ''Minx'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', '' Marie Claire'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''Harpers and Queen'', ''The Sunday Tribune'', ''The Standard'', ''Mixmag'', ''Sky'', ''Q'', ''Time Out'', ''Tatler'', ''The Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The Independent on Sunday''.

Awards

In 2000, Neate won a Betty Trask Award for his first novel, ''Musungu Jim''. In 2001 he won a

Whitbread Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

for his second book, ''Twelve Bar Blues'', which also won the Prix de l'inaperçu in France. In 2005, he won the NBCC Award for Criticism for his non-fiction book about hip hop culture, ''Where You're At''. He has also been shortlisted for the Authors' Club Award, the L.A. Times Book Award and an Edgar Award (the Mystery Writers of America Awards).

Filmography

* '' The Tesseract'' (2003) (Screenwriter) * '' City of Tiny Lights'' (2016) (Screenwriter)

References

External links

Patrick Neate: official website
*
BBC interview with NeateBBC Blast interview with Patrick NeateBook Slam3:AM interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neate, Patrick 1970 births 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of Cambridge English male journalists English male novelists English male screenwriters English screenwriters Living people 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century English male writers People educated at St Paul's School, London