Author and playwright takes on role of patron to local charity

PLUS Perth, a mental health and wellbeing charity, recently held a small gathering to welcome their new patron, author Ajay Close.

The evening reception in the AK Bell Library café was attended by around 25 PLUS members and directors.

Reflecting on her work with PLUS members and her thoughts on being the new patron Ajay said: “I ran a writers’ group for PLUS members for three years while I was Perth and Kinross writer in residence at the Soutar House. Through that group I met many talented, creative individuals who had been through difficult times but had so much to contribute.

“PLUS does an extremely worthwhile job, bringing people together and campaigning to break down barriers so they can make their voices heard. I am very proud to have been asked to be the first PLUS patron.”

Ajay Close is a Perth-based novelist and dramatist, author of five novels and three plays. Her work has been longlisted for the Orange and Walter Scott prizes. Her first career was in journalism.

A former William Soutar fellow, she wrote two plays about the Perth poet’s tragic life, The Keekin Gless, staged by Perth Youth Theatre, and The Sma Room Séance, which toured east Scotland and was revived at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Her play Cat and Mouse, about the Scottish suffragettes force fed in Perth Prison 100 years ago, was premiered by Perth Drama Club and her book, A Petrol Scented Spring, also featured the suffragettes. Her latest novel, The Daughter of Lady Macbeth, was inspired by the beauty and wildness of the Perthshire landscape.

New patron Ajay Close, centre left, was welcomed.