I’m typing through my first hangover in ages so this will be short. What an excellent evening that was! Prize-winning writer Patrick Neate is moving against the flow in that he’s swapping Hammersmith for Zimbabwe soon as his permanent home, to allow his wife to be closer to her family and their baby to be brought up there. Fresh back from visiting them in Zimbabwe, he gave a wonderfully challenging talk about what it’s really like to live there. The chat moved from the book shop on to the Del Aziz next door and as the wine came and went, the main gist seemed to be that the most poisonous inheritance we have from the 19th century is a white tendency to patronise Africa and all its people, even while being aware that we shouldn’t. Excellent stuff, arising from Patrick’s books which pull off the almost impossible trick of being well informed, beautifully written, tragic, hilarious and impeccably cool. Thank you to everybody who made the journey, it was wonderful to see you.

Pictures are here – thanks, Fran.

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