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Paul Mendez talks about his life and his debut semi-autobiogrphical novel " Rainbow Milk"

Paul was born in the West Midlands to a second generation Jamaican-British family. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. He was kicked out of his parents' house when he was seventeen and moved to Tonbridge to study engineering at the University of Greenwich. He dropped out after nine months but remained in Kent before moving to Birmingham in 2002. He moved to London in 2004 and became a sex worker

In 2012, he met Sharmaine Lovegrove at a party and when she became a publisher at Dialogue Books, Mendez sent her the manuscript which would become his debut novel, Rainbow Milk

He is studying for an MA in Black British Writing from Goldsmiths. He lives in Hampstead with his partner Alan Hollinghurst, a Patron of the Library.

In 2020, Dialogue Books published Rainbow Milk, which featured in the Observer?s prestigious Top Ten Debut Novels list and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize.

Paul has contributed to The London Review of Books, Esquire, The Face, Vogue, the Times Literary Supplement and the Brixton Review of Books.

REVIEWS:

One of the most widely anticipated books of 2020 (The Observer named Mendez as one to watch), Rainbow Milk is a coming-of-age story that touches on racism, the Windrush generation, sexual identity and love. Beautifully written, this is a must for your reading list this month - Stylist

[Rainbow Milk] is more real and generous than most contemporary novels. Ultimately, this is a searing account of the human need for physical connection. Mendez never shies away from the melodrama of sex, the cymbal-crashing opera of desire. He is a unique new voice in the British novel - Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times

A novel that does what great debuts do - bringing an originality of voice and vision to the form, refreshing our ideas of what is possible in fiction . . . a novel of huge power and emotional impact, written in language that is sharp, distinctive and often beautiful. 2020 has been a year of superb debuts and Rainbow Milk is among the best - Alex Preston, Observer

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10 Keats Grove,

Hampstead,

Greater London,

England,

NW3 2RR.