Our Speaker in March is Ajay Close. She is going to talk to us about her latest book – What Doesn’t Kill Us.

Ajay Close’s pacy, page-turning novels explore relationships under pressure. What Doesn’t Kill Us, based on the Yorkshire Ripper murders and the feminist fightback across the north of England, was named Fiction Book of the Year (2024) in Scotland’s National Book Awards.

Her debut, Official and Doubtful was longlisted for the Orange Prize.

A Petrol Scented Spring, about the suffragettes force-fed in Perth Prison, was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

In her first career, Ajay was an award-winning journalist, with the Herald, Sunday Herald, Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday among other titles.

Please check out her website at https://ajayclose.co.uk/.