Sir Alexander McCall Smith to entertain at Perth Theatre as part of literary festival programme

The evening with the prolific wordsmith takes place on Thursday, September 26, and comes a matter of weeks prior to the main Bookmark festival weekend in Blairgowrie in October

Organisers of Perthshire’s popular Bookmark literary festival are looking forward to welcoming Sir Alexander McCall Smith to Perth Theatre.

The evening with the prolific wordsmith takes place on Thursday, September 26, and comes a matter of weeks prior to the main festival weekend in October.

McCall Smith has written and contributed to more than 100 books – including specialist academic titles, short story collections and a number of children’s books.

He became a household name following the publication of the highly-successful ‘The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series, which has now sold over 20 million copies in the English language alone.

A keen supporter of the volunteer-run Bookmark festival, McCall Smith will be in conversation with festival patron and journalist Magnus Linklater in what is being billed as an unmissable event, taking in travel from Botswana to Edinburgh, an exploration of his engaging cast of characters including Mrs Ramotswe and Isabel Dalhousie and his love of music, poetry, art and other interests.

Gail Wylie is chair of the Bookmark festival.

She said: “We are so pleased to be able to host this session with Sir Alexander McCall Smith as part of this year’s Bookmark programme.

“Sandy is an enthusiastic advocate of smaller, community events such as ours and although he was disappointed he couldn’t make it to the main BOOKMARK festival in Blairgowrie in October due to prior commitments, he was very keen to do something with us.

“We are therefore delighted that we have been able to facilitate that with this event in Perth Theatre this week.

“There is a limited number of tickets available for this session though, and we would advise booking in advance to secure a place.”

The main Bookmark festival takes place over October 5 and 6 at Blairgowrie Community Campus and will see 10 events taking place over the course of the weekend.

The programme features award-winning writers, household names and exciting new with Sally Magnusson, Douglas Skelton, Karen Campbell, Molly Hughes, Billy Kay, SG MacLean and Chris Whitaker among those set to attend.

Gail said: “We have a really exciting programme lined-up for this year’s festival and can’t wait to share it with book-lovers from Blairgowrie, Rattray and beyond.

“We’re delighted that so many guest writers love Bookmark and want to return, and are looking forward to welcoming back firm favourites Sally Magnusson, Chris Brookmyre and SG Maclean.

“We’re also looking forward to hearing from some thrilling new authors including Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Mollie Hughes and can’t wait to introduce them to Bookmark’s audiences.”

Tickets for the evening with Sir Alexander McCall Smith are £15.

Tickets for individual events at the main festival are priced at £10.

All tickets can be purchased from Adventure into Books in Blairgowrie’s Wellmeadoow (01250 872852), Perthshire Box Office (01738 621031) or from Rhona Christie on 01250 875613 o rhona.maclean@yahoo.co.uk.

Alternatively, see the website www.bookmarkblair.com.

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