Bestselling author lends a hand to Smith Family fundraiser

The author of the international bestselling novel The Rosie Project is set to appear in Leopold next week in support of a local fundraiser for The Smith Family.

Graeme Simsion and his wife Anne Buist, a practising psychiatrist, will headline a ‘Meet the Authors’ event at the Leopold Lifestyle Village on Portarlington Road where they will discuss the recently released fiction novel The Glass House.

The event will be hosted by the Leopold VIEW Club, a women’s organisation focused on supporting and advocating for the education of young disadvantaged Australians, and will take place on Tuesday, July 23 from 10am to 12 noon.

It marks the club’s first major fundraiser since it formed in March last year, with all of the proceeds supporting the work of The Smith Family.

Co-written by Simsion and Buist, The Glass House draws on Buist’s 30 years of clinical experience and follows the journey of trainee psychiatrist Dr Hannah Wright as she navigates the challenges of a strained medical system and the varied needs of the patients in the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital.

The result is realistic exploration of the mental health system and the ethics of treating vulnerable patients without impeding on their rights.

“Most mental health novels are told from the viewpoint of the person with a mental illness – the patient,” Simsion said of The Glass House.

“We wanted to show the other side: the clinical perspective, perceptions and prejudices. We found ourselves drawn to a TV-medical-drama structure: each episode/chapter focusing on a case, but with ongoing characters and stories.”

The Leopold VIEW Club’s Denise Simons said the response to the event had already exceeded expectations, with the remaining tickets selling fast.

The club sponsors two children through The Smith Family, helping to fund learning essentials, such as textbooks and school uniforms, as well as access to support services and additional learning programs, and hopes it might be able to sponsor two more children by the end of the year.

The club has a membership of 46 and is also looking to attract new members also interested in supporting its goals.

“We’re there to have a bit of fun and to meet people and to look out for each other, but we also want to raise some funds to sponsor children who need support,” Simons said.

“Children who don’t get an education are never going to get out of the cycle of poverty. I’m an ex-primary principal, so I understand what it’s like to be in schools where children need support.

“I used The Smith Family many years ago to support the children at some of the schools I was at, and I really would like to give back now.”

For more information, or to purchase tickets, email [email protected] or call 0407 504 052