Welcome to the club

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2025

'Imagine the DJ is taking notes while everyone in the club is dancing. Welcome to the club is exactly that, notes of a DJ - the irrepressible sunlight of DJ Paulette. A fascinating insight into the music business by a northern Black woman.'
Lemn Sissay, author of My Name Is Why

'Icon. Trailblazer. Activist. Warrior. DJ Paulette has led the way for Black women and women everywhere in a global music industry riddled with racism and misogyny. She has blown apart the myths. This is a magnificent book. A manifesto for our times and a rallying call for the future.'
Maxine Peake, actress and activist

'Paulette continues to light the way for others, building in relevance and significance, wowing crowds, annihilating dancefloors. I would recommend Welcome to the club as an essential read for anyone and everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed it.'
Craig Charles, actor, comedian, DJ, television and radio presenter

'Paulette is someone I've always respected, admired and been inspired by. This book is beautifully written, incisive, dry, witty and real - true Mancunian honesty. What an adventure and a truly fascinating life.'
Rowetta, member of the Happy Mondays

'Paulette is a pioneer, a ground-breaker, a trailblazer and never afraid to hold a mirror up to the world to show that there is still so much more to do. A self-assured shimmy of a book that instantly transports you to the dancefloor and beyond. I love it!'
Arielle Free, BBC Radio 1 presenter

'A rare glimpse behind the scenes of the dance underground from a DJ who lived, loved and breathed it.
Felix Buxton, Basement Jaxx

'DJ Paulette's Welcome to the club is a testament to her ability to witness the dancefloor while blending memorable anecdotes that bring new life to the UK underground music scene. More than her fabulous landing in Paris, where she built a new world of listeners around her name and sound, it's the fact that Paulette turns notable moments in her thirty-year career into a close listening experience. There's a musical quality to this book that sounds like what Black women DJs have tried to tell the world - our unique experiences turn any party into a lively classroom. Paulette leaves curious students waiting for the next chapter so they can hear it like a song.'
Lynn©e Denise, DJ, writer and interdisciplinary artist

'As one of the few Black female DJs of the earliest rave era, Paulette mixes memoir with intelligent cultural analysis. The rarity of this makes her book an important historical document.'
Kate Spicer, author and lifestyle journalist

'When I first met Paulette, back in that pivotal space of early 1990s Manchester, I don't think any of us really understood what we were getting out of nightlife beyond raw enjoyment. Now we've had a chance to re-evaluate those codes, to understand how much they meant in forming us as people. This book explains why nightlife matters, beamed in directly from a vanguard position behind the DJ booth. Paulette understands the philosophy of the nightclub because she was there when it was at its very best.'
Paul Flynn, author of Good As You: 30 Years of Gay Britain

'DJ Paulette's debut book Welcome to the club is an invaluable recollection from a key talent involved in music's journey from creator to our hearts, by way of the music industry and club culture.'
Jacqueline Springer, V&A curator and broadcaster

'I arrived in 1990s Manchester, found a place to live and a job then got dragged up, went clubbing and there was DJ Paulette on the decks. She made being an outsider look hot, and I wanted in. Her energy and music were the soundtrack to my queer gender-bending dance floor years. Decades on I still want to be in her club. If music a