Writers Week: Author Spotlight with Patrice Rivers
Welcome to Winnie’s Writers Week!
Hello everyone! Welcome to another author spotlight! These will be posts where I discuss and showcase women and people of color, their writing talents, and their published works. All this week (Aug 24th-Aug 28th) I will be doing a week of author spotlights, showcasing some of the most unique authors and writers I’ve met in a while. So without further ado let’s get on with the Author Spotlight!
Meet the Author!
Patrice Rivers is an 9x author, journalist, freelance writer, and owner of That Riverz Gurl Brand LLC. Her love for writing started out at the age of nine where she learned how to write creative stories and at the age of 15, Patrice fell in love with poetry. She has published a total of four poetry books, three children and two fiction.
As part of her brand, she wears many hats such as managing and publishing her very
own magazine called ‘Versafi Magazine’ that caters to authors, business owners and entrepreneurs of diversity, her newly podcast series called ‘Let’s Talk Sickle Cell’ that talks about Sickle Cell Disease, published books, Married To Journalism Suite and Writing and Design services. Patrice is always creating new projects and asking boss moves in her career. She is continuing writing new children books that is part of her ‘Come Learn with Patricia’ series. Stay connected with this media mogul! Patrice currently resides in Suffolk, VA.
What and when started your love for writing?
My love for writing started at a very early age of nine. I started out writing creative short stories. None of them were published of course because back in the 90’s, there wasn’t any social media or publishing tools that my parents or I knew of, so I just shared them with my parents and family. That’s when I knew God blessed me with the gift to write. At the age of 15, I fell in love with my first love named poetry and we have been committed ever since! LOL
Of all of the book genres, what drew you to write about yours?
The genres I write on is poetry and children. I wrote two fiction books in the past, but I am focused more on my children book series and writing my two non-fiction books. Poetry of course is my first love and the passion I felt while writing all four of my poetry books really made me realized I enjoy encouraging and motivating people through my creativity even when I couldn’t encourage or motivate myself at times.
What I write about, I want people to connect with me even in my children book series called ‘Come Learn with Patricia’ which is a collection of stories about a girl named Patricia who lives with Sickle Cell Disease. I want to educate people and kids about this disease and who it affects.
If you could meet one of your favorite authors who would it be and why?
I would have to say Maya Angelou because I’m a big fan of her work and her poetry is so poised and smooth. It tells many stories of real life.
How does being Black impact how and what you write?
Interesting question! I would say by writing my children book series coming from an African-American author has been a little challenging because of the lack of support in the Black community. So as a Black author, I will have to work extra hard at putting out good quality, even for a children’s book. I like to be creative and unique with my stories without the repetition of topics other Black authors tend to write on.
What makes your book(s) special?
What makes my books special, especially my children book series is the fact that I’m writing about a topic that no one seems to address often because of the fact that Sickle Cell Disease affects predominantly African-Americans. I am educating not only children, but parents as well. Some people may have ‘heard’ about what SCD is, but the real question is “Do you really know what SCD is and who it affects?” That’s the one question that some people can’t answer so I wanted to share my journey living with SCD by writing children books about it hoping to educate people throughout the world. There aren’t too many educational books and I want to be the one to publish something that people can read and educate themselves at the same time.
So…what are you working on now?
Well, I wrote my ninth children’s book last year for the ‘Come Learn with Patricia’ series called ‘Patricia’s Visit to the Hospital’ It is actually a remake of my first children book called ‘Patricia’s Trip to the Hospital’ The book wasn’t done correctly, so I decided to rewrite it and get it done correctly with the right illustrations and everything. The book is set to be released September 1st in honor of Sickle Cell Awareness month, so I’m just promoting the book like crazy and booking virtual events and interviews for my book as well as my second children’s book called ‘Patricia’s Guardian Angel’ which has been selling a lot more this year than ever. So that is what I am working on now as far as books go. I plan to write and publish my first non-fiction book next year that will talk about my personal journey living with Sickle Cell Disease. I am definitely excited about that new book project.
Nine books! I can’t wait to meet that milestone. Patrice has such a great personality and so great to connect and work with. I highly advise you to check out her books. If you want to get in contact or connect with Patrice you can through:
Thank you all for reading and remember:
