Learn more about our authors

Alasdair Allan grew up in Ashkirk, near Selkirk.

He graduated from the University of Glasgow in Scottish Language and Literature, and gained a PhD in Scots language from the University of Aberdeen in 1998.

Since 2007, he has been the Gaelic-speaking MSP for the Na h-Eilean an Iar constituency, and served from 2011 to 2018 as a Minister in the Scottish Government.

Lorn Macintyre, author of The Summer Stance, was born in Taynuilt, Argyll, in 1942, and lived in Connel at The Square, Dunstaffnage House until the family moved to Tobermory, Mull, when he was a teenager.

He studied at Stirling University and did a doctorate on Sir Walter Scott at Glasgow University. Having worked as a freelance writer and journalist, he spent years as a senior researcher and scriptwriter in BBC Gaelic and English television.

Lorn has drawn extensively on his Highland background in his writings. His Dunstaffnage House years formed the inspiration for a series of novels, Chronicles of Invernevis, about the fortunes of a landed family throughout the 20th century. He has published two collections of short stories, Tobermory Days and Tobermory Tales, about his formative years on Mull, where his father Angus, a poet and raconteur, was the charismatic Gaelic speaking bank manager. His 2012 collection of short stories, Miss Esther Scott's Fancy, celebrates his love, with his wife Mary, of dancing. His novel, The Leaper, published in 2017, is about a Gaelic speaking fisherman who is an outsider in an island community which has lost, or abandoned, its native language. His poetry collection, A Snowball in Summer, celebrates his Highland ancestry, with a long poem recalling his mother's suffering from Dementia.

He lives in Glasgow and with his wife regularly visits the Hebrides and Estonia.

He has had several short stories published, notably in iScot magazine and 404Ink magazine. He has also translated from Estonian a 'closed-room' mystery, The Oracle, originally published in 1937.

From 1991-97 he was a part-time tutor in Creative Writing at Glasgow University and is a former president of The Scottish Association of Writers (1993-96) and of Scottish PEN (1997-2000). For 17 years he chaired Scottish PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (now renamed Writers at Risk), which campaigns on behalf of persecuted writers and champions freedom of expression, and he remains active in this field.

Robin now runs Autumn Voices, the aim of which is to encourage creativity in later life.

Apart from writing, his main interests are mountaineering, sea kayaking, photography and chess. More information can be found at his entry in Who's Who in Scotland. And at: Robin Lloyd-Jones

He is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Truth of Stone (short-listed for the Saltire Society Best Scottish First Book Award) and The Interpretations. His short fiction has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, including New Writing Scotland, Stand, Edinburgh Review, Chapman, News from the Republic of Letters and three editions of 'Best Short Stories' anthologies.

An earlier draft of The False Men was short-listed for a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development and won a Hachette Manuscript Development Award.

Away from writing he has worked as Business Correspondent for The Herald and editor for a Glasgow-based trade and contract publishing firm. Andrew currently works for PWC.

Gabrielle also edits monthly writing pages in Living Orkney magazine and runs local writing workshops. She has been commissioned to compose and perform poems at local anniversaries and events and last year performed in the Orkney Storytelling festival.

In 2015 she won The George Mackay Brown Short Story competition.

He is an established journalist who has written extensively for the UK and Scottish national press, and won a number of awards. In 2002 he set up the Scotnews agency, providing media consultancy and writing services. Before moving into journalism, he studied Scottish history at Aberdeen University.

Craig Watson says, "As a journalist, with a keen interest in history and politics, I wanted to explore the concept of the 'bogeyman syndrome', the perceived and/or real fears and evils of political and royal rivalry, military intrigue, and the bitter competition between religious and academic scholars, through the history of ordinary people and those not usually featured in the portrayal of a country."

Smith has had numerous short stories published in a range of publications, including, Scottish Field, Spilling Ink, Stirling Collective Anthology, Mistaken Identities Anthology (edited by James Robertson) and Gutter Magazine. Ethyl is also winner of the Dragon's Pen for Mixing The Colours, from Glasgow Women's Library.

Ethyl has also been a finalist three times, and winner once, in the Dragons Pen competition, and a Finalist in the Wigtown Book Festival Short Story Competition.

Ethyl Smith says, "I have always liked stories, always admired a good storyteller, longed to become one. As a child I told my stories through pictures. Later as an illustrator I interpreted the words of others before daring to link my own words with my own pictures. In Changed Times I have worked to portray the images of turbulent 17th century Scottish lives in words, and give them their voice."

Tim grew up in Orkney then attended Aberdeen University to study Divinity with the intention of being ordained into the Church of Scotland. He subsequently worked in training and development in Health and Social Care, and now blogs as the @OrkneyVole. He is an active political campaigner, including being the lead applicant in the 'Orkney Four' case brought against Alistair Carmichael MP under the Representation of the People Act.

Outside of Scotland Tim has lived in London and Middlesbrough; since moving back home to Stromness he has written poetry and short prose published locally.

Seonaid Francis, Director of ThunderPoint Publishing says, 'Tim Morrison is unflinching in his portrayal of the consequences of self-indulgence, intolerance and hypocrisy, but delivers QueerBashing with wit and charm that belies the horror of the story.'

Suzanne took great pleasure in studying the folklore, ballads, and ancient myths of rather obscure Scottish deities, as well as chasing down the elusive practitioners of the "Auld Ways," who bore no resemblance to today's Neo-Pagans. When added to the spectacular Scottish ceilidhs and dances, castles, forests, and the beautiful medieval town of St Andrews that Suzanne enjoyed, this makes for a compelling story in Suzanne's novel, The Bonnie Road.

Suzanne has been published in various literary journals including Chapman, The Arkansas Review, Byline, Libido, and Eclectica. She has also won awards and scholarships for her writing, and a Pushcart nomination for her short story Wee Janet and the Filthy Pagan Heathen Thing.

Her poetry has been published in the Anglican Theological Review, and Poet Magazine, and she has been a fiction editor for Nimrod, International Journal for more than 15 years.

As a playwright Suzanne has seen success with The Gods of Theatre and Ragnarok, received various theatre awards, commissions, and productions as well as commissions from the Oklahoma Repertory Theatre Company, among others. She was also Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference.

In her day job @HelenMacKinven works with numbers, travelling all over Scotland to deliver teacher training in maths. By night, she plays with words writing short stories and developing ideas for her next novel. Helen's short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and literary journals, such as Gutter magazine. One of her novels was shortlisted in a UK-wide competition by Hookline Books.

Originally from the Falkirk area, Helen now lives in a small rural village in North Lanarkshire with her husband. She has two grown-up sons but has filled her empty nest with two dogs, two pygmy goats and an ever-changing number of chickens.

An avid reader, she is particularly interested in the uneasy relationship between fiction and the reporting of 'reality'.

Gaining a doctorate in creative and critical writing from the University of East Anglia allowed her to explore themes of loss, memory and the blurring of genre boundaries, all of which she intends to pursue further as she develops her own fiction.

Her ideas are fuelled by travel, walking, her academic work, and a broad experience of people gained through all sorts of casual jobs such as waitressing, volunteering at a homeless shelter and hosting retreats.

She was runner-up in the Long Barn Books competition (author Susan Hill's publishing company) for first time writers in 2006 and has published a short story in 'Pretext', the literary magazine.

A member of the Highland Literary Salon and the Edinburgh Writers' Club, Helen has had short stories published in Northwords Now and the Global Shorts Anthology. She has also had success in national and international writing competitions, having been highly commended by the Highland and Island Short Story Association, Neil Gunn Writing Competition and Scottish Association of Writers.

Toxic was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize in 2011 and Jackie has also been longlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize.

Helen Davis is now a complementary therapist on Orkney and has turned her hand to fiction. Her short story A Kind of Justice made the short-list for the 2012 Crime Writing Competition of the OrkCrime Festival, judged by bestselling crime writer Ann Cleeves.

A Good Death was Thriller of the Month at e-Thriller.com and received a rave review from Lesbrary.com

The Birds That Never Flew was shortlisted for the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize, under its working title of The Dandelion Clock. The Dundee International Book Prize is supported by the University of Dundee and Dundee: One City Many Discoveries campaign. The 2012 competition was one of the most hotly contested years of the prize, with 500 entries from across the globe.

Margot McCuaig was listed at number 5 in the Forensic Outreach list Successors to the Greats: The Top 50 Best Crime Writers To Watch in 2014. The Birds That Never Flew is described as '...a hit about two women, revenge, abuse and the resilience of the human spirit.'

Huw has authored a number of non-fiction books, contributed to others and written extensively on the subject of living and working internationally, before turning his hand to fiction with an international flavour. He now lives in Wales and is the Director of the National Botanic Garden of Wales.