A life of writing sparked by town library …

Val McDermidA life of writing sparked by town library …

BEST selling author Val McDermid would never have become a writer had it not been for Kirkcaldy Central Library.

As a kid she even borrowed her mum’s library ticket to get her hands on more novels!

Now she is looking forward to returning to see first-hand the transformation of a building which played such a huge part in her life.

When Val was growing up in the town, books were a luxury her family could not afford, and the library introduced her to everyone from Dickens to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five.

In the countdown to the grand re-opening, Val recalled her first visits to the library.

“I grew up in a house where there was no money to spare and the only way to get books was as prizes from the Sunday School – they were the only books I had,” she said.

“So when we lived in Templehall, my mum used to take me to the library years before I could read, find a quiet corner of the children’s section and tell me the stories by pointing to the pictures.

“As I got older and we moved to Sang Road, opposite Kirkcaldy Central Library, I spent more and more time there. The library became a home from home.

‘‘I read a huge amount of fiction although we were only allowed to take out four books at a time and two of them had to be non-fiction. After all, this was Presbyterian Scotland in the 1960s!

From: FIFE TODAY

 

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Val McDermid