AMIDST the creepy carnivores and freaky ferns of Kibble Palace, author Scarlett Thomas is going to tell you why she wrote a book about plants.

Be afraid. Seriously – be very afraid.

“I played around a lot with the idea that plants don’t need to send out huge tendrils to strangle us with – we do what they want us to do anyway,” she says, cheerfully. “Plants are secretly out to get us…..”

Scarlett is appearing in Glasgow as part of Book Week Scotland, the national celebration of reading and writing, organised by Scottish Book Trust.

She is one of a handful of literary heavyweights taking part in the event and will be talking about her most recent novel, The Seed Collectors.

It’s a funny, sinister story of a family of botanists, who inherit strange seed pods when their great-aunt dies and it’s entirely fitting that Scarlett should be talking about it and reading from it in one of the places which inspired her to write it.

“As part of my research I came to Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens to look at the carnivorous plants, so it will be great to be back,” she smiles.

Scarlett, who teaches creative writing at Kent University, says the idea for a book about plants has been in her head for more than a decade.

“I had this slightly mad idea that I would do a Masters in ethnobotany, which is all about people’s relationship to plants, and use the experience to write the book,” she explains.

“But I was rubbish at it, and it was at a time in my life when lots of things seemed to be going wrong – I was a bit stressed, I’d put on weight….”

She adds: “I started writing these little, embarrassing fragments based on things that were happening, thinking I’d never show them to anyone and I’d get better at the botany and write the book and it would all be fine.

“But the little embarrassing fragments grew into the main book…and I didn’t get that much better at botany….”

Nevertheless, Scarlett remains fascinated by the world of plants and their relationship to people.

“I’ve realised that while of course botany is about rainforests and carnivorous plants and all those wonderful things, it’s also about drugs and alcohol and tobacco – we are practically enslaved by plants anyway.

“If you look at the majority of crops produced by humans, they are addictive.”

She grins: “There’s a lot of recent stuff about the effects of wheat on the brain, being similar to those of opiates – I don’t know if that’s true, but I know once I’ve had two bits of toast, I always want another…..”

The Seed Collectors is Scarlett’s ninth book, following in the successful footsteps of Our Tragic Universe, PopCo and The End of Mr Y.

“I’m fascinated by the same old stuff in all my books – the big questions, like - what is the universe? Why are we here? What’s it all about?” she explains.

“I like dipping in and out of different worlds.”

Scarlett is looking forward to being part of Book Week Scotland, particularly as it’s one of only a few events she is appearing at, following months of ill-health.

“I had a full-on physical breakdown in January and it has taken me months to recover,” she says. “I wanted to see how far I could get on the 40 plus women’s professional tennis scene, by training like a pro, and then write a book about it.”

She pauses: “But I overdid it. I woke up one morning in January and I couldn’t do anything, or go anywhere. It took me a long time to recover and I had to learn a lot about myself to come out of it.

“So I started to write a book about dragons and wizards instead, to cheer myself up – and that’s going to be the subject of my next book…..”

For now, though, Scarlett is still pre-occupied with plants and despite the sinister goings-on in her book, she still quite likes them.

“It will be amazing to sit in the Kibble Palace, surrounded by these fascinating flowers and plants,” she says. “I didn’t throw out all my house plants after I wrote the book – I love them.”

She pauses. “But I do keep an eye on them…..”

For more information about Book Week Scotland and Scarlett Thomas's event at the Kibble Palace tomorrow (Tuesday, November 24) visit www.scottishbooktrust.com