Gothic novelist Patrick DeWitt inspired by ‘unhappy people’

Patrick DeWitt was born to write but success didn’t come easy for the Canadian author who struggled for years to gain recognition, as Sue Leonard learns. 

PATRICK DEWITT is a born writer. He has never wanted to do anything else.

However, leaving school early, eschewing college, and never attending a creative writing programme, it took him a long while to figure out quite what his chosen career entailed.