John Clare theatre welcomes award-winning author to city

Award-winning author Kate Atkinson will be giving a talk at the John 
Clare Theatre, at Central Library, in Peterborough, on Wednesday 11 July 
at 12.30 pm.

Kate was born in York in 1951 and studied English Literature at Dundee 
University. After graduating in 1974, she researched a postgraduate 
doctorate on American Literature. She later taught at Dundee and began 
writing short stories in 1981. She began writing for women's magazines 
after winning the 1986 Woman's Own short story competition.

She was runner-up for the Bridport short story prize in 1990 and won an 
Ian St James award in 1993 for her short story Karmic Mothers, which she 
later adapted for BBC2 television as part of its 'Tartan Shorts' series. 
Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the 1995 Whitbread 
Book of the Year award, beating Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh 
and Roy Jenkins' biography Gladstone. Her latest book One Good Turn has 
been shortlisted for the British Book Awards crime thriller of the year 
and Kate will be signing copies following the talk.

"We are really looking forward to welcoming Kate to the John Clare 
Theatre," said Gill Benedikz, reading promotion and events co-ordinator 
for Peterborough Libraries. "She is an accomplished writer, whose style 
is wide and varied, and I'm sure her talk will be extremely entertaining 
and informative."

Tickets are on sale now from Central Library and cost £3 each, £2 for 
concessions and for reading group members. For further information, call 
reader services on (01733) 742708.