Two more readers bought copies of my debut ebook In Through A Coloured Lens. Whoever you are, thank you. For any writer, most rewarding is people reading one’s works. I extend my gratitude.
Toronto writer and columnist Pat Watson is the author of In Through A Coloured Lens, available for Kindle, tablet or PC at Amazon.com.
This is an audio version of “About Social and Economic Class in The Black Community” read by the author.
In the lead-up to the launch of her debut book, In Through a Coloured Lens, writer and columnist Pat Watson has a brief chat about her debut publication.
Interviewer Matt: I have read this book and I found it very interesting and very unique. Could you describe this book to our listeners, and could you describe what brought you to write it?
PW: Well, what brought me to write it was really celebration of an anniversary, in a sense a milestone. I’ve been writing columns for Share newspaper in Toronto for 10 years, and 10 years seemed like a good time to review the work I’ve done and to put the more timeless or universal pieces into a book for people to…to get in touch with, really.
Interviewer Matt: Now in reading this book, I notice that you write from a very unique perspective, as if you’re almost trying to get a voice to those who cannot speak. Now could you describe your writing and writing perspectives?
PW: I am aware that I’m giving a voice to those who cannot speak. I’m aware that I’m one of those voices. And I’m aware of the kinds of experiences that we have in common as Black people, as Black people struggling to earn a living, as Black people dealing with many issues within the larger society, within a larger community. So this is what I try to do, I try to take those individual experiences and to speak to them in that individual way, but also in a universal sense and I know from speaking to people and people speaking to me on the streets that in fact they recognize themselves often when they read what I’ve written.
Interviewer Matt: Yes, I can sense very much your enthusiasm just listening to you. So what was your experience writing this book?
PW: My experience writing the book… the sense of having been doing this for 10 years… is it’s been a learning experience for me as I grow more and more connected to the people in my community and the experiences that we have as …as a group within the larger society. And, in terms of compiling all this material, my experience has been one of looking at all the various things that touch our lives as people, as African Canadian people, as people of the Diaspora. It’s been really remarkable to tell other people’s stories and to try to present a perspective on even issues beyond our community from our point of view.
Interviewer Matt: Thank you very much Pat, it was a pleasure.
PW: It was a pleasure talking to you as well, Matt and I really hope that this books generates enthusiasm among readers and that they can see themselves in it and that they can use it as a way of having a kind of interaction. Of course, people can always contact me through twitter (@patprose) or by looking at the page, the blog.
Interviewer Matt: Yes let’s just mention that Pat has a blog advertising her book at inthroughacolouredlens.wordpress.com. Thank you Pat, it was a pleasure as always. That was Pat Watson, author of the delightfully illustrated book, In Through A Coloured Lens, which will be available on Kindle, Tuesday, September 17, 2013.
Listen to the interview at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSAPwsSzlCU
In Through A Coloured Lens 