I’m a widely published writer of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. I grapple with contemporary issues such as alcoholism, alienation, abortion. More generally, my themes are identity, belonging, language, class, women’s issues and – always – the restorative influence of the natural world. I explore these primarily in short fiction and poetry, but also in longer form writing and in photography. Though my first career was as a chartered librarian, working in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, I switched career in my late thirties, undertaking an MLitt in Creative Writing. Since then, I’ve taught creative writing through community groups and as an Arts Development Officer, and through The Open University between 2004 and 2018. I’m listed in Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature directory.
Awards
- Joint winner with Keith McKay of the Hedgehog Poetry Press ‘Little Black Book’ competition, Spring 2024.
- My poem ‘Ceilidh’ was selected as one of the twenty Best Scottish Poems in English in 2022. Selection was made by guest editor Ifor ap Glyn on behalf of the Scottish Poetry Library. https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/best-scottish-poems/best-scottish-poems-2022/
- Winner, Scottish Association of Writers’ James Muir Poetry Competition, Oct 2023
- Appointed to the honorary role of Scriever of the Federation of Writers (Scotland), January 2023.
- Admitted to the Online Guide to Scottish Poets, Scottish Poetry Library, 30 Nov 2022.
- Winner, White Label Quatre poetry pamphlet competition, Hedgehog Press, March 2020.
- Longlisted, BBC National Short Story Award, Sept 2020 (‘In UK Now’ i.e. reached final 60)
- Commended in Federation of Writers (Scotland) Vernal Equinox flash fiction competition for ‘There’s always another train’, 2019.
- Finalist, Comma Press / UCLan Dinesh Allirajah Short Fiction Competition, 2019. (‘In UK Now’)
- Awarded a place on Space/Time, Magnetic North’s artists’ development residency for experienced artists, Swallow Theatre, 23 – 27 February 2018.
- Longlisted in Hedgehog Press’s ‘Slim Volume of One’s Own’ competition, 2018.
- Commended in Indigo Dreams ‘Geoff Stevens’ poetry pamphlet competition, 2018.
- Longlisted in Mslexia’s Short Story Competition, 2017 (‘In UK Now’).
- Runner-up for Moniack Mhor’s Travel Writer’s Bursary in 2015.
- Commended in Liquorice Fish ‘Lost Voices’ Competition, Cinnamon Press, 2014.
- Winner, inaugural Booktown Writers’ Short Story Competition, 2012. (‘Flags’)
- Awarded Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, 2010.
- Shortlisted, Daily Telegraph Novel in a Year Competition, 2007. (‘Incunabulum Notebooks’)
- Shortlisted, Macallan / Scotland on Sunday Short Story Competition, 2002. (‘Unrestricted’)
- Writer’s Bursary from Scottish Arts Council (now Creative Scotland), February 2002.
Publications
- White Spirit (novel) PotHole Press, 2022.
- Reading the Landscape (poetry pamphlet), Hedgehog Press, 2022.
- Incunabulum (novel) PotHole Press, 2020.
- Munro, Eileen with McKay, Carol (2008) As I lay me down to sleep. Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing (Autobiography of Eileen Munro. Sold 55,000 copies).
- Ventimiglia Blanket in Poetry Scotland #106, Autumn 2023 (poem)
- Born Lucky in Causeway/Cabhsair: a magazine of Irish and Scottish Writing, Vol13.1, Univ of Aberdeen 2023 (short story)
- Look Up! in Five Glasgow Stories, Red Squirrel Press, 2023 (short story)
- Excerpt from White Spirit in Soor Ploom Press weekly mail-out , 6 Feb 2023 (i.e. Ploom #54).
- At Wiston Lodge in Stravaig #11, Summer 2022 (poem)
- Attrition, Steelman, Angels’ Share, Palette in Wee Dreich 5, Hybrid-Dreich, 2021 (4 poems)
- Keening in Poetry Scotland #102, Autumn 2021 (poem)
- Under Cadzow Bridge in Ghosts of the Early Morning shift: an anthology of radical prose from contemporary Scotland edited by Jim Aitken, Culture Matters, 2021. (short story)
- Her Body was an Aviary in Break in Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland 39, ASLS 2021.
- Holding all the Aces in Gutter 23, Spring 2021 (poem)
- Metaphor in https://poetryandcovid.com/2021/01/05/metaphor/ A Project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Plymouth, and Nottingham Trent University. January 2021 (poem)
- After the Poetry Reading, Ceilidh, and Enclosure, Penruddock, in Dreich 5, 2020. (3 poems)
- Kintyre in The Blue Nib 41, April 2020, (poem)
- Beach in Island and Sea, Spring 2020, Scottish Writers’ Centre (poem)
- Salt in Gutter 20, Autumn 2019 (extract from the novel)
- In UK Now in Scent, May 2019 (Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction finalist, published in the ebook by Comma Press and UCLan)
- Accessories in Gutter 19, Spring 2019 (poem)
- Lords of Misrule in Firth 2, November 2018 (poem).
- Walking the Lowthers in X: an anthology to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Scottish Writers’ Centre. Red Squirrel Press, 2018. (poem)
- Under the Paling in Stickleback: Ode to a Hedgehog: hedgehog poems. ISSN 2631 4126 (poem) November 2018.
- Beach Babes, in Laldy 2, November 2018 (short story)
- Front Line – poem and research about Isabella McIntyre (project between the Imperial War Museum and the writers’ group 26 to commemorate 100 people alive at the start of the First World War) 5 September 2018.
- Troubles in Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing 92, Winter 2017 (short story)
- First Floor Bedroom, Penruddock in Landfall: anthology of New Writing from the Federation of Writers (Scotland), New Voices Press, 2017. (poem)
- Scarred in Southlight 22, Autumn 2017 (short story)
- Spring Vessel in Gutter 15, Autumn 2016 (poem)
- Plein Sud, in Gutter 11, Autumn 2014 (short story)
- War Bird, in Gutter 10, Spring 2014 (poem)
- Synaesthesia and Church, in The Istanbul Review 4, Winter 2013. (poems)
- Reflection and Hard Graft in From Glasgow to Saturn, 32, November 2013 (poems)
- Just Boys, They Were in Gutter 9, Autumn 2013 (short story)
- Flags, winner of the inaugural Booktown Writers’ Short Story Competition 2012 and subsequently published in Southlight 14, Autumn 2013.
- Safety Glass, in Spilling Ink Review e-zine, 7 December 2011 (short story)
- Three haiku, in A Thousand Cranes: Scottish Writers for Japan, Cargo, 2011
- Grit, in From Glasgow to Saturn e-zine, 22 June 2011. (short story)
- Frozen Waste, in Gutter 1, 2009. (short story)
- What mattered about the dancing, in Written Remedies Luath, 2007 (short story)
- Our family tradition, in The Herald, 8 April 2006 (flash fiction)
- Ugly Duckling, in Chapman 107, 2005 (short story)
- Transience, in Knuckle End, Freight, 2004 (poem)
- Unrestricted, in Shorts 5, The Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Collection. Polygon, 2002 (reached final six in the last Macallan competition)
- Decomposing, in Mslexia 15, 2002 (short story)
- Wisdom Teeth, in Cencrastus 71, 2002 (Translation of Mouloud Akkouche’s short story Les dents du bonheur , originally published in Libération, 1998)
- Still Life Without Colour, Garscadden Estate/Drumchapel Scheme, and Social Climbing (The Bearsden/Drumchapel Divide), in Cutting Teeth 18, 2001 (3 poems)
- Total Obliteration, in Chapman 98, 2001 (short story)
- God’s Jewels, in Northwords 23, 2000 (short story)
- Marion, in Cencrastus 63, 1999 (short story)
Poems in Exhibitions
- Beach in Moira Buchanan’s exhibition ‘All Washed Up’ at Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine, Dec 2016-Jan 2017 and available 5.15 minutes into a video installation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxnI6R22eeM
- Vespers In 26 Children’s Winters exhibition: a collaboration between 26 writers’ group and the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh. It ran throughout winter 2015/6. https://26project.org.uk/26childrenswinters/2015/12/13/object-13-winter-keeping-warm-hands-muff/
- Spring Vessel appeared in the exhibition ‘26 Atlantic Crossings’, a collaboration between artists in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and the writers’ group 26, from 22-24 August 2014 https://26.org.uk/projects-events/26-atlantic-crossings/attachment/img_3599
In addition, Pothole Press has published my e-books:
- Ordinary Domestic: collected short stories PotHole Press, 3/2012
- Creative Writing Prompts to Feed the Imagination PotHole Press, 8/2012
- Second Chances: true stories of living with Addison’s Disease PotHole Press, 11/2012
Reviews and features about my writing
- My poetry pamphlet Reading the Landscape, published by Hedgehog Poetry Press, was reviewed by Mandy Haggith in Northwords Now, issue 44, Spring/Summer 2023.
- Reading the Landscape was also reviewed in Dreich Broad Review number 4, edited by Jack Caradoc.
- My novel White Spirit was featured in the Addison’s Disease Self-Help Group’s news pages in spring 2023.
- Incunabulum was reviewed by Valerie Beattie in Northwords Now, issue 40.
- Incunabulum featured as part of Gillean Somerville-Arjat’s Notebook column in Scottish Review on 24 February 2021.
- Leela Soma and I had a chat about Incunabulum on her website in 2020.
- Andrew McCallum Crawford reviewed my early short story collection Ordinary Domestic in his Wee Fictions blog in 2013.
Journalism
Between 1994 and 2001, I freelanced for magazines, including eleven in-depth features for Family History Monthly, a monthly column on local surnames for Cumbria and Lake District Magazine, a feature for Autocar and Motor, writing several issues of Women Into the Network, and restaurant reviews for Snapfax. I was a regular reviewer of fiction and life writing for Northwords Now from January 2011 till June 2015, and for UK reading charity Booktrust from December 2012 till September 2015. In Autumn 2020, 2021 and 2022, I was a volunteer reader for the Highland Book Prize.