Concrete Dreamland

From an award-winning artist who was featured in Humans of New York comes a bold collection of vignettes about overcoming family trauma, addiction, poverty-and forging a creative life in the greatest city in the world.

Born in Brooklyn in 1963, Patrick Dougher grew up in some of the most turbulent and culturally impactful periods of NYC's history. Often neglected as a child by his parents-a father who struggled with alcohol addiction and an overworked mother who struggled to make ends meet-he learned to fend for himself. Now a renowned visual artist, musician, actor and writer, Dougher brings to the page his memories, struggles, personal revelations, and a life intimately tied to the realities of growing up Black and disenfranchised on the streets of one of the most remarkable cities in the world.

Concrete Dreamland is tragic and triumphant, gritty and hard, poetic and outrageously funny. Told in Dougher's brutally raw and courageously honest voice, these stories act as snapshots of a life lived in extremes: from gangsters to God, street style to sexuality, to recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism. He tells of his adventures as a pre-hip hop "hard rock' and an original Black punk rocker surviving during the dangerous days of the crack and AIDS epidemic in NYC, while also sharing tales of racism, homelessness, and his many brushes with fame and death.

Audacious, unique, and moving, Concrete Dreamland is an unforgettable story of addiction, redemption, and life on the streets of a vanishing New York.

"This book teems with life, never more so than in his powerful account of working as an art therapist for children born with HIV. A moving, modest, sometimes hilarious account of self-discovery."--Kirkus Reviews
"A gripping and luminous storyteller."--Yrsa Daley-Ward, author of THE TERRIBLE
"As an avid reader of autobiographies, I can honestly say that Patrick Dougher's Concrete Dreamland is one of the most compelling books I've read since reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X decades ago. Patrick's journey is one of trauma, struggle, and survival. In picking up the book, I intended to read only one chapter, however, after reading the first five pages, I was immediately hooked and could not stop reading until I finished it. I am still processing this incredible story of survival and addiction. A must read book for guidance counselors, mentors, educators, and those battling internal demons." --Jamel Shabazz, award-winning photographer
"Aside from being a brilliant visual artist, Patrick is also a man with stories and the ability to tell them well. A writer to watch! Looking forward to his stories in the world."--Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award Winner
"The NYC book we've all been waiting for, Concrete Dreamland is the fire next time and Dougher is its incandescent heart, a riotous poet prophet calling to the past in order to summon the future." --Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Patrick Dougher is a self-taught fine artist, musician, poet and actor who was recently name-dropped in the song "Saltwater" by Black Thought. He has performed and recorded with Sade, the Grammy award-winning Dan Zanes, Black Uhuru's Michael Rose, Steel Pulses' David Hinds and Hip Hop star Chuck D of Public Enemy. He has performed his poetry for the WNET Open Mic series, on BRIC TV and at venues around NYC. Dougher worked as an art therapist with HIV positive children at Kings County Hospital, as a youth counselor and teaching artist at Project Reach and Studio in a School, and served as the Program Director of Groundswell. His visual art has been featured in numerous exhibitions, as well as on TV shows including "The First Wives Club" and "Riches". He created the cover art for the reissues of Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (Amistad) and The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter Woodson (Penguin Random House), and illustrated the recently released children's book Hold Them Close by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (HarperCollins). His visual art can be seen on his website,

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