Ladies, get ready! It’s Girls’ Night Out at Theatre at the Mill in Newtownabbey as four of the hottest chick-lit authors take to the stage to discuss their writing on October 16th.
Fans of female authors Cathy Kelly, Tasmina Perry, Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell will be treated to a night of romantic fiction, humour and wit.
The event is part of Conversations at the Mill, a new programme for the theatre in which popular authors have a chance to talk about their work with their fans.
The evening is divided into two sections: Katie and Jill will kick off the night at 7pm followed by a short break – a chance for refreshments or to browse through the authors’ books which will be available on the night – with Cathy and Tasmina to follow at 8.30pm. Tickets are available for both sessions or just one.
Sunday Times Bestselling author Katie Fforde will kick off the night speaking about her recent books The Perfect Match and A French Affair.
Katie, President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, was born and brought up in London but has lived in Gloucestershire with her family for the last thirty years. She started writing as a stay-at-home mother with three young children, after her mother encouraged her by giving her a writing kit. There have been over eighteen novels since, and she adds also dogs, cats and some grandchildren!
Jill Mansell, winner of the Pure Passion Award, writes full time from her home in Bristol. She admits that she often puts off writing with activities like ‘watching TV, eating fruit gums and admiring the rugby players training in the sports field behind her house.’
She will be speaking about her work, including her soon to be published The Amazing Things About You. She will also speak about past work such as The Unpredictable Consequences of Love, which is set in the idyllic seaside town of St Carys, where Sophie is putting the past firmly behind her. When Josh arrives in St Carys to run the family hotel, he can’t understand why Sophie has zero interest in letting any man into her life
Cathy Kelly is published around the world, with millions of books in print. A No.1 bestseller in the UK, Ireland and Australia, her trademark is warm Irish storytelling about modern life, always with an uplifting message, sense of community and strong female characters at the heart.
She lives with her family and their three dogs in County Wicklow, Ireland. She is also an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland, raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDS.
She will be talking about her novel It Started With Paris. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, a young man proposes to his girlfriend, cheered on by delighted tourists. In that second, everything changes, not just for the happy couple, but for the family and friends awaiting their return in Bridgeport, Ireland.
Tasmina Perry, author of eight Sunday Times best-selling novels including Daddy’s Girls, Kiss Heaven Good-bye and Private Lives, will conclude the Girls Night Out. She is a former editor of InStyle magazine and still writes for a raft of newspapers and publications. Her novel The Proposal is due to be printed in paperback in the coming weeks.
She had always planned to be a lawyer but a chance meeting with Robbie Williams changed all that. “I’d just finished law school when I met Take That in a café in Manchester. I went up to Robbie (he looked the friendliest) and asked them if I could interview them partly because I fancied them but mostly because my secret dream – the thing I really wanted to do in life – was to be a writer.
“Two years later I had qualifed as a lawyer and Take That had become really, really famous. I heard about a job at a magazine and clutching my one and only interview with one of the world’s biggest bands – I got the job, and gave everything up I studied so hard for to be a journalist,” she said.
Tickets for the talks are available at www.theatreatthemill.com or 028 9034 0202. Conversations 1 includes Jill and Katie and Conversations 2 will be Cathy and Tasmina. Tickets cost £7/£6 for either session or £12/£10 for both.