Date Published: 22nd October 2018
Earlier this month Alexander embarked on his Autumn UK tour, travelling across Britain to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and promote his new books: The Colours of All the Cattle, The Quiet Side of Passion, A Gathering, and the paperback of The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse.
The tour began in the Scottish Borders with an excellent event at Main Street Trading in St Boswells, chaired by long-standing friend and former literary editor of The Scotsman, David Robinson. Bookshop owner, Roz De La Hay said, “What a hilarious event it was, I’ve had such gorgeous feedback from the audience, all of whom could, I think, have just settled down for another hour of listening to the two of them chatting… There were waves of happy giggles reflecting Sandy’s own throughout!”
The following day Alexander travelled to Corbridge for an afternoon event arranged by Forum Books. This delightful event took place in the stunning surroundings of the St Andrew’s Church. Bookshop owner Helen Stanton said “Sandy was as ever an utter delight – great books sales too.”
Continuing South the same day Alexander then had an evening engagement at Ryedale Literature Festival in Helmsley. This popular event had sold out long in advance and proved to be an evening of smiles and laughter as Alexander regaled the audience with tales of Mma Ramotswe and wee Bertie.
Cream tea was on the cards for the next event with the Book Corner in Halifax. Alexander was interviewed by Michelle Hodgson, Director of Huddersfield Literature Festival who said “I really enjoyed meeting Sandy and interviewing him for the cream tea in Halifax yesterday. It went very well and he was wonderful”. After the event Alexander browsed the bookshop and was very impressed “what a pleasure to go into a bookshop like this! Temptation upon temptation! And what a pleasure to yield…” You can read more about the event here.
The day continued with a large evening event as part of Manchester Literature Festival. This well-attended event was supported by Waterstones and chaired by literary journalist Alex Clark.
The following day held just one engagement, a pleasurable day at Althorp Literary Festival enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Althorp Estate and an in-conversation event with the ever affable Paul Blezard.
Into London next and an event with one of Alexander’s favourite bookshops, Daunt’s of Marylebone. An event with Daunt’s is always guaranteed to be an evening of sheer delight and this was no different. Events manager Samatha said “It was a triumph! It is always such a pleasure having Sandy here.”
The final day of the tour arrived, heralding an afternoon event with new friends at The Fordingbridge Bookshop. After a beautiful drive down through the New Forest watching the ponies roam free through the Autumn trees, Alexander arrived at the small but perfectly formed town of Fordingbridge where tea and homemade cake aplenty awaited him in town’s community hall. Readers spent a fascinating hour listening to Alexander discuss his books with fellow author Angela McAllister. Angela had enjoyed reading all of Alexander’s new books but singled out A Gathering as her personal favourite adding that “The poetry collection is a real treasure!”.
A cosy evening in Bath discussing all things No. 1 with readers at Toppings & Company Booksellers provided a very pleasant end to a busy tour. Chair Paul Blezard commented ‘It was lovely to look out over the audience and see so many bright eyes paying rapt attention as Sandy moved up through the gears of a brilliant stream of anecdotes. He is a such a joy and please thank him for being on brilliant form last night.’
All in all, a busy and fun tour encompassing 9 events, over 700 miles of driving, over 300 miles of flying, over 1,000 happy readers, and one very happy author. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make each event such a success!