Ambassador of Peace Award. (Above) The Largs and Millport Weekly. Feature an article by Ron McLachlan on his recent trip to Arizona. PRESS RELEASE: It was announced on Monday 4th October that Ron McLachlan is listed among the winners at the Arizona Literary Society annual banquet in Phoenix, Arizona on 5th November. The program started at 6pm and the awards commence with the banquet at 7.30pm where authors in many categories were honoured. The venue was The Prime Hotel in North Phoenix. This group has annual competitions and is an extremely active gathering of writers. There is a published novel category, an unpublished novel category, published and unpublished non-fiction categories, published and unpublished short story categories, a poetry category, a general article category, and many other categories, with participants coming from all over the world as well as from all over the USA. Ron, when he heard the news, commented: "This is, indeed, a great honour and I feel greatly privileged to be invited to attend such an ostentatious event. The eighteen hour journey is a small price to pay in comparison!" (Actually, it turned out to be a full twenty-four hour journey!) It was an evening full of excitement and glitz! Ron McLachlan travelled from his home in the west of Scotland, half way around the world to the State of Arizona for the occasion. This is a new venue for an author who has travelled widely in all the world's continents.
SEE PICTURES FROM THIS EVENT AND FROM THE ARIZONA TRIP BY CLICKING ON THIS TEXT |
W H Smiths. Book signing: Ron McLachlan was invited to a book singing session on Saturday 7th May. W H Smiths now stock Whispers of Ghosts.
PRESS RELEASE: Two members of the Largs Writers' Group made big news on 22nd November 2004, when their debut novels were released in a joint book launch. The unprecedented event, with sessions at 2pm and 6pm, included wine, coffee, tea and light snacks.
Jenny Telfer Chaplin's 'The Kinnons of Candleriggs' and Ron McLachlan's 'Whispers of Ghosts', both published by Be Write Books (www.bewrite.net) received a great welcome at Largs Public Library on Monday afternoon when the books went on general release and a large number of enthusiastic readers crowded into the Library's Community Room to get their signed copies.
Hugh McCracken, Senior Editor of Be Write Books, introduced the first time novelists by praising the books and commending them as: "interesting and exciting reads."
Seventy-five year old Jenny Telfer Chaplin, perhaps better known by her non-fiction publishing name, Jenny Chaplin, is a regular contributor to the 'Scots Magazine' and 'The Scottish Banner' as well as several other magazines and also writes for 'The Friendship Book'.
On the previous Saturday, Eddie Monaghan, Chief Librarian of Rothesay Public Library, praised the Bute-based author's contribution to research and writing on Scottish matters, historic and contemporary: "Jenny's remarkable diligence and attention to detail are well-known and recognised, and so her departure into fiction writing will be a very welcome broadening of her already auspicious career as a writer."
'The Kinnons of Candleriggs' is: "An uncompromising story of one woman's life in Victorian Glasgow."
Fifty-two year old Ron McLachlan, whose previous jobs range from Ocean Navigator, through UN Charity liaison worker to Web Design and Internet Marketing Specialist said: "I have finally achieved my childhood dream of becoming a fiction writer. When I made the decision to begin writing, I gave up my full-time job as Manager of an internet company and, taking up writing as a full-time job, found that the words of 'Whispers of Ghosts' seemed to flow on to the page, almost as if the story had already been written and all I had to do was rediscover it. Writing this first novel has been a remarkable experience."
The story, the first in his 'Purple Country Trilogy', is a family saga set in the Hebrides. His short reading at the Book Launch revealed a well-studied research and first hand experience into the nature of the islands and their peoples. It is a contemporary novel and says Ron: "A story about what happens when the Hebrides meets the twenty-first Century and the Twenty-first Century meets the Hebrides; a story of family and community struggle and one of triumph in situations of extreme adversity."
Both books are available in good bookstores, although they will have to be ordered using the ISBN, and also from www.bewrite.net and, for UK residents, from www.amazon.co.uk.
BOOK LAUNCH PICTURES AVAILABLE SOON!