Stop what you’re doing, put everything down and come a little closer – it’s time to have a natter. And, when we say natter, we obviously mean, a moment to fangirl over Patrick freakin’ Ness.
As you probably already know, Patrick’s written heaps of our favourite reads. ‘A Monster Calls’ is one of the best books ever, ‘More Than This’ is an absolute page-turner and the brilliant ‘Chaos Walking’ series had us on the edge of our seats from start to finish.
In fact, we love Patrick so much that we’ve decided to take a trip down memory lane and take a look at some of his most impressive credentials.
Quite honestly, everything he does leave us in awe, but these are the moments that have stayed with us.
1. His powerful new novel, ‘Release’
Whilst, we’d read anything that Patrick wrote (including his shopping lists if he fancies giving them to us), his new YA novel ‘Release’, is truly incredible.
The story’s based on Patrick’s own experiences growing up gay in a deeply religious family and it’s his most personal book, to date.
Every page is jam packed with raw emotion, as we follow the life of Adam Thorn – a gay teen who’s growing up in a very isolated Washington.
The story completely breaks boundaries in terms of discussing queer sex and teenage adolescence – so naturally we’re not the only ones raving about it, The Times and The Guardian are too.
Trust us when we say you need this book in your life, pronto.
2. His fundraising for refugee crisis
Okay, I don’t know if this’ll work but I’ll match donations up to £10k to do *something* to help this refugee crises http://t.co/iDgBrCNTUc
— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) September 3, 2015
In 2015, Patrick raised over £600,000 ($1,000,000) for the Syrian refugee crisis. We know, we know – it’s seriously impressive!
Patrick set up the fundraising page because he could ‘no longer stand just tweeting about it’. As a result fans everywhere, came together and started sending in donations.
It was completely touching and is a super example of someone in the public sphere using their recognition for a good cause.
Quiz: Are you an Unchosen One? Inspired by Patrick Ness’s ‘The Rest of Us Just Live Here’!
All the reasons ‘The Rest of Us Just Live Here’ by Patrick Ness should be at the top of your TBR
3. His brilliant screenplay, ‘A Monster Calls’
In 2016, an onscreen adaption of ‘A Monster Calls’ came out. It was incredible seeing Patrick’s read on the big screen and the film was flippin’ amazing – seriously, we cried so much whilst watching it.
It was life changing.
4. His tweets that have us lol-ing for days
Toaster settings
1 Untoasted
2 Lightly toasted
3 CHARCOAL
4 CHARCOAL
5 CHARCOAL
6 CHARCOAL
7 CHARCOAL
8 CHARCOAL— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) May 18, 2017
Ha! C’mon, gals and guys, admit it, it’s completely true!
Sure, being excellent at Twitter isn’t an official-credential, but credit where credit’s due, Twitter’s rough and our feeds wouldn’t be the same without Patrick’s brilliance.
5. His endless amount of awards
Not every author has won what feels like an endless amount of awards.
In 2011 and 2012, Patrick was the two-time winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal. In 2008 he won the Guardian’s Children Fiction Award and in 2009 he won the Costa Children’s Book of the Year award.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, then Patrick’s also won Book of the Year awards from Red House, UKLA, Galaxy and Booktrust.
Obvs, he deserves each and every one of them.
6. His praise from fellow authors
Author of ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, John Green, is also a massive fan of Patrick. When praising his new book ‘Release’, John said that Patrick was ‘an insanely beautiful writer’.
Told you it was a brilliant read.
To find out more about ‘Release’ by Patrick Ness, snap up a copy here.