Guest announcement: Pat Harkin

21 June 2017

by Nicole

We are very pleased to announce that Pat Harkin will be one of our guests at the 2018 Discworld Convention.

Dr. Pat Harkin is a Lecturer in Pathology and currently Associate Director of Student Support for years one and two of the MBChB and for intercalating students. He is also Deputy Director of Admissions and Academic Integrity Officer at the Leeds Institute of Medical Education.

He is a self-confessed hoarder (collector of Discworld memorabilia), and -of course- widely known as DWAuctioneer(dee-doubleyou-auctioneer).

He borrowed his first Discworld book from a friend many years ago, thought it was funny and a life-long love was born. It is a bit unclear how he met Terry for the first time (on-line or at a book signing), but the fact is, they did meet and over time he was the one to give Terry the answers to questions like “How much force would it take to tear someone’s head off?” and “How much earwax do you produce in a lifetime?”

Like many other fans he has appeared as an extra when Terry's books were filmed, he has been to many Discworld events and multiple conventions all over the world,  acting as auctioneer and once he even entered the Maskerade as a singing wizard.

Pat has also promoted the idea of frozen soup popsicles (to make kids eat their veggies) on the BBC show "Genius", he has been interviewed by the Guardian on his role as a "superfan". He has given very serious public talks on "How to commit the perfect murder" and "How to get thrown out of university", and he once was interviewed by Death (for the Hogfather promotional trailers "Twelve days of Hogswatch")