Paisley & District U3A Talks: Ajay Close
Crime buffs are in for a treat, Scottish author, Ajay Close will be taking Paisley u3a members behind the scenes with an illustrated talk about her latest novel, What Doesn't Kill Us!
About Paisley & District U3A Talks: Ajay Close
Image Credit: Craig Stephen
A former Renfrewshire writer in residence, Ajay Close based her most recent book around the Yorkshire Ripper case. Fifteen months ago What Doesn’t Kill Us won the coveted Scottish fiction book of the year prize. Two of her other novels have been long listed for major literary prizes.
On Thursday 5 February at 2pm, Ajay will recall the shadow Peter Sutcliffe cast over her teenage years, an experience that inspired her first foray into crime writing. Sutcliffe – nicknamed the Ripper – murdered 13 women across the north of England. By the time he was arrested in 1981, about a mile from her home in Sheffield, Ajay had spent years looking over her shoulder, suspicious of every man she passed. Later, as a journalist, she met two women whose lives were changed forever by the serial killer, the sex worker who narrowly escaped becoming his fourteenth victim and Sutcliffe’s wife, Sonia.
“What Doesn’t Kill Us is the book I’ve always known I was going to write,” Ajay says. “As a journalist I went on to cover major news events, including the Miners strike and the Handsworth riots, but in the late 70’s I wasn’t reporting on someone else’s story. I was just a young woman in the north of England who went out alone after dark – exactly the demographic Peter Sutcliffe was targeting.”
u3a chair, Kathy O’Donnell said: “This promises to be a fascinating talk. People often say life is stranger than fiction and Ajay’s recent fictional book covers real events in the 1970s. I’m sure we will have plenty of questions to ask around this particular whodunit.”
Refreshments at u3a monthly meetings are available from 1.30pm in the Salvation Army Hall, Mill Street (PA1 1ND).
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