Current work:
Community Writer in Residence for The Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Citizen Project. In year two of this project I will be working with communities in North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
I am currently also a mentor for The Scottish Book Trust.
Since 2009 I have also been a member of the Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature programme. The programme works with communities to part-fund author residencies and author-led events such as readings or writing workshops in libraries, school classrooms, and other community settings. You can view my page in the author directory here.
I have been an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of the West of Scotland since 2012.
See below for examples of previous work I have done with communities:
- The Citizen Project with the Edinburgh International Book Festival
- Takeover Day with P6/P7 pupils at the Baird Institute, Cumnock, developing creative writing based on the museum and its collection
- A course on writing radio plays and podcasting with a group of young asylum seekers in Glasgow with Ankur Productions
- Multi-generational writing workshops at Timespan, Helmsdale
- Key stages 3 and 4 judge for a National Storytelling Competition, part of Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month
- Pollockshields Book Group creative writing workshop and discussion
- Workshops and an original short story based on taped interviews with local residents, part of the ‘Dennistoun – our 2014 story’ project with Impact Arts
- A talk and discussion with students at Sussex University as part of the Sussex Writing Series
