Author events happening in North Somerset this June

North Somerset Libraries are inviting people to book tickets for an exciting programme of author events in Clevedon and Portishead libraries next month.

Marc Burrows – Clevedon Library, Wednesday 7 June at 7-8pm

Tickets cost £5. Book online at Ticketsource.

Marc Burrows is an author, music and film critic, comic and musician. He published the first full-length biography of Terry Pratchett, The Magic of Terry Pratchett, to much acclaim in 2020. Marc is using the research for the book in a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe later this year, and this event is to try-out the material.

This event is part of the ‘More Than Words’ Clevedon Literary Festival taking place between Wednesday 31 May and Sunday 11 June. For more information, visit: www.clevedonliteraryfestival.uk

Vaseem Khan – Clevedon Library, Thursday 8 June

Reading group workshop at 3.30-4.30pm, and talk at 7-8pm

Recommended ticket price £5 for the workshop, £4 for the talk. ‘Pay what you can’ option available. Book online at Ticketsource – workshop and talk.

Vaseem Khan is author of two award-winning crime series set in India – the Baby Ganesh Agency series and the Malabar House historical crime novels. To celebrate National Crime Reading Month, Clevedon Library is inviting people to a reading group workshop with Vaseem to discuss his latest book The Lost Man of Bombay and an author talk. Copies of the book can be borrowed from any North Somerset library or buy your copy from Books on the Hill, an independent bookshop on Clevedon’s Hill Road.

This event is part of Word Live in Libraries, a tour of diverse authors and creative practitioners across the south west.

Rosie Parker – Portishead Library, Saturday 17 June at 10.30am to noon

Tickets are free but spaces must be pre-booked online at Eventbrite - meet local author.

Rosie Parker is the pen name for Rosemary Dun, a writer of novels, poetry and songs who lives in Portishead. Hear about her latest book Only Hummingbirds Fly Backwards, a heartfelt, family story delving into the very real stresses and tension that can destroy the seams of a relationship. It is a celebration of love and the human spirit. Out now, the book will also be available to buy at the event.

Brian Price, Ben Mears and Mike Leonard ‘Crime Times Three’ – Clevedon Library, Wednesday 21 June at 7-8pm

Tickets are free but spaces must be pre-booked online at Eventbrite - Crime Times Three.

Readers and writers of crime and thriller novels won’t want to miss this – three local authors in conversation about their writing. Find out why they write, how they started and what’s next for each of them.

Brian Price is the author of the DC Mel Cotton series, Fatal Trade, Fatal Hate and Fatal Dose. He is a chemist and a biologist but turned his hand to crime writing after visiting ‘Crimefest’ in Bristol in 2016. He has used his scientific knowledge in helping authors get the science in their books correct, first on the website crimewriterscience.co.uk then in his book Crime Writing: How to write the science.

Ben Mears began writing high fantasy as a hobby, later working on a series of early-medieval whodunits before self-publishing the YA Tyler May series. Ben is also a songwriter, an illustrator, a graphic designer and runs creative writing workshops in schools.

Mike Leonard qualified in Medicine at Bristol University in 1978 and worked as junior doctor in the Bristol area before travelling to work briefly in Australia and Canada. He also spent two years as the sole ship's doctor on a cruise ship in the mid-1980s, sailing mainly in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.  A Certain Persuasion is Mike’s debut novel, a thriller based in the Caribbean, USA and UK, drawing for background on his experiences at sea.

Details of events taking place across North Somerset libraries are available on the council's website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/libraryevents. Keep up with the latest news on social media (Facebook: facebook.com/nslibraries, Twitter: twitter.com/NSomLibraries and Instagram: instagram.com/northsomersetlibraries).