AN award-winning journalist and author is visiting Malton next week to promote her work with an international charity based in the town.

Susannah Cahalan, from the New York Post and author of Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness will be looking round the Encephalitis Society’s premises in Castlegate and signing copies of her book.

She recently became the latest International Ambassador for the Encephalitis Society after suffering from the life-threatening illness and witnessing first-hand the service that the charity provides.

Susannah will join other prominent ambassadors including Rebecca Adlington, Mathew Bose, Aliki Chrysochou and Simon Hattenstone in representing the charity.

Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain caused either by an infection or through the immune system attacking the brain in error.

Brain on Fire is Susannah’s story of her hunt for a diagnosis, as, after dozens of tests and scans, baffled doctors concluded she should be confined in a psychiatric ward.

It is also the story of how one man, Syria-born Dr Najar, finally proved – using a simple pen and paper – that Susannah’s psychotic behaviour was caused by a rare auto-immune disease attacking her brain.

Susannah will be visiting the Encephalitis Society on Tuesday, 10.30am-11.30am.

Members of the public are invited to attend to meet Susannah Cahalan and learn more about the illness and the Malton-based charity.

For more information email matthew@encephalitis.info or phone 01653 602073.