Patient 12A

‘Brave, poetic, brutal, always honest. By leading the reader through his chaotic childhood and immersing us in a mental health treatment centre, Lesedi forces us to confront conversations that are often hard to have. I was moved and challenged.’ – GAVIN WEALE

So here I am, at a psychiatric hospital, looking for myself in a building I’ve never been to before. A few nights ago, I was ready to rid myself of myself. I still am, only, in a different way ...

Patient 12A is Lesedi Molefi’s absorbing memoir, reflecting on his time spent in a psychiatric clinic in 2016. With vulnerability and candour, Lesedi reflects on the moments, large and small, that led him there. It is at once a personal history, an observation of how childhood experiences can have a profound effect on the adults we become, and a commentary on how mental illness remains a difficult conversation in black families. More than anything, in Patient 12A, Lesedi allows himself to filter out the noise in his head to find the truth, however uncomfortable that may be.