Troon author inspires others to pick up a pen

Mar 18 2011 by Jennifer Buchanan, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

ASPIRING AUTHOR ENCOURAGES OTHERS TO PICK UP A PEN

AN ASPIRING author is encouraging others to get writing.

Troon mum Uuganaa Ramsay is the new Book Trust ambassador for Ayr and has been inspiring people to tell their family legends.

In a contest, run along with BBC Radio Scotland, the trust is asking people to submit their family stories.

The lucky winners will have their tales read out on the radio and some will even be published.

Uuganaa is currently writing a book about losing her third baby, Billy.

The story, which also talks about her own childhood growing up in Mongolia, led her to look for others who had gone through similar experiences.

She explained: “I was scouring the internet looking for information and I found the Book Trust website.

“They were looking for an ambassador in Ayr to encourage people to write their family legends and I applied.

“I didn’t think anything would come of it but they called me in December and offered me the position.”

Since then dedicated Uuganaa has been busy spreading the word.

She has been interviewed on 3TFM radio, talked to Enable, Ayr adult book club and the Ayrshire association of business women, as well as holding public coffee mornings.

Uuganaa added: “Everyone has a story to tell and it’s great to hear them.”

And the stories are wide and varied, from Wendy who worked in a black medical school in South Africa in the 1980s to Eileen who remembers her great-grandmother talking about when motor cars first came to Ayrshire.

The stories must be between 100 and 1000 words and can be submitted through the Scottish Book Trust website or through Uuganaa.

Photos of the family member are also welcomed and anyone who would like more information should contact Uuganaa on uramsay@gmail.com.