Best-selling international author to visit Molesey Library

Mary Lawson

We are delighted to announce that leading Canadian author Mary Lawson will be coming to Molesey Library on Tuesday April 25 to talk about her best-selling books and to give us her thoughts on “Writing Fiction – A Ridiculous  Occupation?"

Although born in Canada, Mary is actually now a local resident. She came to England for a holiday after graduating from McGill University in Montreal. When she ran out of money, she had to find a job, then fell in love with a colleague and married him. The couple now have two sons and live in Kingston upon Thames.



Mary began by writing short stories but it wasn’t until she set one of those stories in Canada and was advised by an editor to turn it into a novel that she finally found her voice and discovered what she wanted to write about.


Crow Lake, her first novel, published when Mary was 55, sold in 25 countries. It spent 75 weeks on the bestseller list in Canada, won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, was a New York Times bestseller and was chosen as a Book of the Year by the New York Times, The Sunday Times, The Washington Post and The Globe and Mail.

The Other Sideof the Bridge, her second novel, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and was a Richard and Judy Summer Read in the UK. Her latest novel, Road Ends, has been recently published to critical acclaim and is a finalist for the Folio Prize.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Mary, who has a very strong local following.  Do come along and join us for what promises to be a fascinating talk.  Tickets cost £5 - which includes a glass of wine or soft drink - and can be obtained from Molesey Library.