The Boys from Dolores

When I first came to New York in February 2005, I was blown away by the fact that I was interning for a real writer. I'd read Patrick's first book, Chasing Che while sailing in the Caribbean basin, and when I started working for him, I could hardly believe that same bike was parked demurely on a West Village block, giving no hint to the thousands of miles, stories, people, it had seen. I'm not sure how much help I ever actually gave Patrick with 'The Boys From Dolores' - I seem to remember most of his requests were "Can you translate this?", my token response being, "No, are you sure it's Spanish?", but I was thrilled nonetheless that the first real writer I ever met actually put my name in the acknowledgments at the back, thus ensuring that my New York dream came true - my name ended up in a book somewhere!

Well, the book is finally out, and it's come a long way from the day we sat in Patrick's apartment with the first printout of Chapter Five scattered all over the floor, snow drifting down onto Manhattan rooftops as we looked at each other, rather confused and befuddled by it all. As one of Patrick's friends enthused sarcastically, 'If you buy one book all year about Fidel Castro's high school, let this be the one!'. This is truly a fabulous book - Patrick's writing is always humorous, entertaining and thoughtful, his encounters with people and places so evocative that you yearn to have been there yourself, and I'm very proud to have been involved in it, even in such a lowly position as Chief Xeroxer. Do go buy it or order from Amazon - The Boys From Dolores - Fidel Castro's Classmates from Revolution to Exile by Patrick Symmes. I'm reading it at the moment and want to be in Cuba so badly....

The Boys from Dolores

When I first came to New York in February 2005, I was blown away by the fact that I was interning for a real writer. I'd read Patrick's first book, Chasing Che while sailing in the Caribbean basin, and when I started working for him, I could hardly believe that same bike was parked demurely on a West Village block, giving no hint to the thousands of miles, stories, people, it had seen. I'm not sure how much help I ever actually gave Patrick with 'The Boys From Dolores' - I seem to remember most of his requests were "Can you translate this?", my token response being, "No, are you sure it's Spanish?", but I was thrilled nonetheless that the first real writer I ever met actually put my name in the acknowledgments at the back, thus ensuring that my New York dream came true - my name ended up in a book somewhere!

Well, the book is finally out, and it's come a long way from the day we sat in Patrick's apartment with the first printout of Chapter Five scattered all over the floor, snow drifting down onto Manhattan rooftops as we looked at each other, rather confused and befuddled by it all. As one of Patrick's friends enthused sarcastically,'If you buy one book all year about Fidel Castro's high school, let this be the one!'. This is truly a fabulous book - Patrick's writing is always humorous, entertaining and thoughtful, his encounters with people and places so evocative that you yearn to have been there yourself, and I'm very proud to have been involved in it, even in such a lowly position as Chief Xeroxer. Do go buy it or order from Amazon - The Boys From Dolores - Fidel Castro's Classmates from Revolution to Exile by Patrick Symmes. I'm reading it at the moment and want to be in Cuba so badly....

Norton Anthology of Creative Nonfiction

My book isn't due out in the States until September 2008, and God knows when it'll hit the stores in England - but if you want to read an extract from it, check out the very fabulous Norton Anthology of Creative Nonfiction which is coming out Stateside on July 23rd, or can be bought from amazon for those of you in foreign climes. There's a great selection of truly excellent writers from a huge variety of disciplines, not just bloggers, so go buy....