Authors will be making the rounds at Perth and Kinross libraries

Mar 12 2010 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

BOOKWORMS have the chance to meet the men and women of words through a series of author talks in libraries across Perth and Kinross organised by the libraries service.

Sara Sheridan will visit Perth’s AK Bell Library on Tuesday at 7.30pm to discuss her latest book.

The Secret Mandarin took eight years to write and is a story based on the real-life travels of botanist Robert Fortune. The book is a blend of fact and fiction which combines what is known about the Victorian botanist and his adventures in China with a spy tale.

Sara used The Pitlochry Explorers Garden as a research base for her book. This unique garden celebrates the fascinating lives of the group of Victorian pioneering botanists known as the Plant Hunters, and their amazing contribution to the way our gardens look today.

Syd House, forester and author, will be in conversation with Sara during the evening, discussing the plants which Fortune brought back to this country. Syd will also discuss his area of expertise, famous Plant Hunter David Douglas.

Tickets are £5 from the AK Bell Library, telephone 01738 477019.

l AWARD-winning author Bernard MacLaverty will speak about his work when he visits Strathearn Community Library on the evening of Thursday, March 18.

Born in Northern Ireland, Bernard has lived in Scotland for more than 30 years. He began his working life as a lab technician before becoming a teacher and then a full-time writer.

He has written several novels, with ‘Cal’ and ‘Lamb’ both made into films, and ‘Grace Notes’ shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winning the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year award.

Tickets for this event, starting at 7.30pm, are available from Strathearn Community Library or the AK Bell Library in Perth at £5 each.

l LOCAL author Gillian Galbraith will give a talk and answer questions about her novels at the Loch Leven Community Campus, Kinross, from 7.30pm on March 25.

Coupar Angus-born Gillian has written several successful novels featuring Edinburgh detective, Alice Rice.

She grew up near Haddington and attended the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee. For 17 years, she was an advocate specialising in medical negligence and agricultural law cases. She contributed to and wrote law reports for The Times, and was a legal correspondent for the Scottish Farmer. Before qualifying in law she worked as an agony aunt in magazines for teenagers.

After her first novel ‘Blood in the Water’ was published in 2007 she decided to abandon her legal practice and concentrate on her writing. Gillian has since written three more novels featuring Alice Rice:’Where the Shadow Falls’, ‘Dying of the Light’, and ‘No Sorrow to Die’ which will be published in 2010.

Tickets for the event are £5 from Loch Leven Community Campus Library on 01577 867205 or AK Bell Library, Perth, on 01738 477019.

l BESTSELLING author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth novels, M.C. Beaton, will make a rare public appearance at Perth’s AK Bell Library on Thursday, April 8, to discuss her long and successful career in writing.

Readers will be familiar with M.C. Beaton’s cranky but lovable Cotswold detective, Agatha Raisin, and the acclaimed Hamish Macbeth Highland mysteries, which were later turned into a popular TV show.

M.C. Beaton was born in Glasgow and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose through the ranks to become theatre critic before writing for the tabloids.

Places are limited for what promises to be a very popular evening, so early booking is advisable. Tickets, costing £5, for the event which starts at 7.30pm are available from the AK Bell Library or by telephoning 01738 477019.

l PERTH’S AK Bell Library celebrates Writers Day on Saturday, March 20, by becoming a one-stop shop for avid readers and aspiring writers with 13 hours of inspirational workshops, talks, book launches, presentations and readings.

The varied programme of events includes tuition by award-winning writers, practical advice on building a career in writing and the chance to meet three local poets celebrating the launch of their first collections.

Tickets for the fiction and poetry workshops are £10 (£7 concession) and can be obtained from the AK Bell Library (444949). All other events are free.