Quantcast

Terry Pratchett receives a 'pratchgan'

Monday, Sep 15, 2008
image

image credit: cherryred2001

I’m just going to go ahead and blame an international move and return to full time grad school for distracting me enough to overlook this one: a group of concerned crafters, wanting to show British fantasy author Terry Pratchett the depth of their concern for him. As a group, starting in January, they created a ‘pratchgan’ – a patchwork afghan composed of small blocks referring to various aspects of Pratchett’s Discworld. The completed work was presented to Pratchett at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 16 August; he seemed quite impressed. Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease almost a year ago. He publicly stated in May of this year that the disease is now affecting his work – spelling is becoming more difficult and his typing has slowed down. Pratchett is determined to keep writing for as long as possible rather than take an early retirement. Different fans find various ways to show their support, and you can see more about the pratchgan on the blog of the organizer, here, including pictures of Pratchett accepting the gift along with a batch of letters from fans.
image

image credit: Kit Cox

Personally, I have to love the Librarian square, with his brown orangutan face surrounded by fluffy orange fringe. I think I also spotted the Death of Rats in there somewhere, have a look yourself! What character or concept from the Disc would you most like to see rendered in yarn?
Comments
Now on PopMatters
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  3. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 1: From 13Ghosts to Friendly Fires (Features)
  4. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  5. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  6. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  7. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  8. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  9. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  10. Get Off of My Cloud!: 'Collecting' Music in the Digital Age (Features)
  11. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Reviews)
  12. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  13. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  14. Bored This Way: The 54th Annual Grammy Awards (Features)
  15. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  16. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  17. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  18. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  19. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  20. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  21. Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro: A Rock Star’s Midlife Crisis or Valid Literature? (Features)
  22. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  23. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
  24. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  25. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  26. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  27. Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (Reviews)
  28. Mitt Romney Can Reside at Today's Proverbial 'Downton Abbey'... Newt Gingrich Cannot (Features)
  29. After Cease to Exist: The Far-from-Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Features)
  30. The Barbaric (and Poetic) Yawp of Shelby Lynne (Notes from the Road)
PM Picks
Books Archive
Announcements
Ratings

10 - The Best of the Best

9 - Very Nearly Perfect

8 - Excellent

7 - Damn Good

6 - Good

5 - Average

4 - Unexceptional

3 - Weak

2 - Seriously Flawed

1 - Terrible

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.