Sidmouth literary lunch hosts novelist Patrick Gale

ASK for a novel written by Patrick Gale at Sidmouth Library and more often than not you will be out of luck and join a queue of reservations.

ASK for a novel written by Patrick Gale at Sidmouth Library and more often than not you will be out of luck and join a queue of reservations.

"He is one of our most popular authors," said Gill Spence, librarian in charge.

So she is not surprised to have already had a number of telephone calls booking tickets for the library's latest Literary Lunch on Tuesday, September 29, at which Patrick will be special guest speaker.

Since information about the lunch, which begins at 1.30pm, went on the internet, Gill has sold at least a dozen of the 50 tickets available for the event, at which Patrick will take part in a question and answer session.

She said: "It will take the usual format of a buffet lunch until 2pm in the reference area, then we will move to the main part of the library where Patrick Gale will give a talk and might read from his books.

"I am really happy to be launching our new season of literary lunches with such a popular and well-known author."

Born on the Isle of Wight in 1962, and now living at Land's End in Cornwall, Patrick Gale's first two novels, Ease and The Aerodynamics of Pork, were published on the same day in 1986.

Friendly Fire (2003) draws on his own experience of a late 1970s adolescence, while Notes from an Exhibition, published in 2007, is set in Cornwall and explores the effects of mental illness on artist Rachel Kelly and her family.

His latest novel, published in June, is The Whole Day Through. Paragon Books will sell copies of his books in the library on the day.

To buy a ticket (�4.50) for the literary lunch, call in at Sidmouth Library or ring (01395) 512192.