The Book Alchemist

Sunday Times Best Seller, million copy and twice long-listed for the McIllvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year and an author whose books have been translated across the globe, Helen Fields consiste…

57 year-old author Helen Fitzgerald has written more than a dozen best selling novels. She has worked as a criminal justice social worker for over ten years. Helen grew up in Victoria, Australia and …

Reece Donnelly is the brilliant, 27 year-old founder of Theatre School of Scotland. He was also a competitor on The Apprentice.

Reading is a big part of the work he does with children and it fuels hi…

Sarah Frame is a grandmother and the award winning founder of The Book Nook, a community bookshop in Stewarton, Ayrshire in Scotland.

The Book Nook scooped Scotland's independent bookshop of the year …

Dr Lesley McDowell is a novelist and writer of non-fiction, she was a lecturer in English Literature at St Andrews University, then became a full-time freelance literary critic, writing for publicati…

Seb McKay is probably Oscar Wilde's biggest fan, he loves reading and words are his life. Seb is a self confessed nerd; he loves Japanese culture, shares the bookshops he loves and how a year of read…

Donna Ashworth is a Sunday Times bestselling author, poet and lover of words who found fame with her work in her 40s. She originally self-published her work.

Celebrity fans include Fearne Cotton, Tess…

Dr Rhona Morrison is a retired, Scottish forensic psychiatrist, artist, and author of her memoir, ‘I don’t talk to dead bodies: the curious encounters of a forensic psychiatrist’.

We discuss big life…

Shari Low has written 40 rom com novels and sold millions of books. She started writing in her 30s and has also written a trilogy with Ross King MBE.

We discuss her writing journey, overcoming self do…

Author BC Harris talks about being re-born in your late 40s, her love of Africa, writing two novels and the books which she's loved of late.

The books and authors we discuss include:

• The Bad Seed by …

Madeline Black is a psychotherapist and is also known as the Courage Cultivator. An activist, author and TEDx speaker, Madeleine has an unusual personal story and has experienced more trauma in her l…

Bestselling author of The Fair Botanists and The Secrets of Blythswood Square, Sara Sheridan talks about the books which have shaped her life, libraries she loves and more.

Truth or Dare, her first no…

One Love One Life is Billy Sloan's memoir. We discuss Scottish bands, his passion for music memorabilia, anecdotes about The Beatles, Phil Spector, David Bowie, Wet Wet Wet, Prince and his love of M…

Psychotherapist and author Angela Trainer is the guest on this episode of The Book Alchemist.

Angela has self-published two books, Love Never Dies and The Beauty of Broken. Both raise money for charit…

Anna Campbell Jones is an interior designer who found fame in her 50's as one of the hosts of BBC Scotland's Home of the Year.

We discuss the joy of a charity shop rumble, the work of Norman Wilkinson…

Colin McCredie is an acclaimed actor, big music lover and recent wearer of spectacles.

We discuss growing up in Perth, landing dream film roles, his work on the iconic TV show Taggart and the books he…

Gregor Hollerin is the cofounder of Story Shop an award winning PR and marketing agency.

Dad to two young children, he does a lot of bedtime stories. We discuss Alan Partridge, supporting Doddie Aid, …

Alan Parks is an award-winning author from Glasgow.

We discuss his favourite library, great coffee shops, life before becoming an author, his connection to John Niven and his forthcoming novel and mo…

Elissa Soave is both an avid reader and an author. Her brilliant debut novel Ginger and Me is a coming-of-age mystery that is also a love-letter to her hometown of Uddingston.

The novel was shortliste…