By Lookout Staff

January 12, 2015 -- Bestselling author Graeme Simsion will share thoughts with writer and actress Annabelle Gurwitch during a conversation at 7 p.m. Monday night at the Santa Monica Public Library.

Simsion’s debut novel “The Rosie Project” captured audiences worldwide with its tale of a misfit scientist who sets out to find a wife using a 16-page scientific survey.

Santa Monica will be the first stop on his North-American tour to promote the sequel, “The Rosie Effect.”

Booklist called “The Rosie Project,” “Funny, touching, and hard to put down (and) certain to entertain even as readers delve into deep themes. For a book about a logic-based quest for love, it has a lot of heart.”

The sequel finds the couple happily married and Rosie pregnant, which sends the prospective father on yet another life-altering research project.

Simonson is no stranger to scientific research. He is an information systems consultant who authored two books on data-modeling before trying his hand at fiction.

Gurwitch, best known to television viewers as the co-host of TBS’ cult series “Dinner and a Movie,” is also the author of several books, including the upcoming “I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50.”

A former writer for Woody Allen, Gurwitch said she was fired by the famous director for, among other reasons, “looking “retarded.” She turned the experience into the inspiration for a 2006 book of essays titled “Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed.”

A book sale and signing with both authors follows the event.

This program is free and open to all ages. Seating inside the auditorium is first come, first served. Santa Monica Public Library is wheelchair accessible. For special disabled services, call Library Administration at (310) 458-8606 at least one week prior to event.

The Main Library is served by Big Blue Bus routes 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Ride your bike. Bicycle parking racks are available at the library.

For more information on this and other public programs, visit www.smpl.org or contact the Santa Monica Public Library at (310) 458-8600.