writing

Open Book Growth Pilot

/ isgfreelance / Leave a comment

The growth pilot for Open Book has come to an end after the allocated five sessions. I was lucky to get to work with a lovely group of folk from across Aberdeenshire, exploring poems and stories from a selection of writers and then sharing our own work through a series of writing exercises. We explored the themes of adventure, gardening, ritual, home and strangers. As a Lead Reader, it was great to see new people coming along each session, to see the group develop and grow, and to hear all the responses to the writing exercises. Some feedback from those attending below:

“Enjoyed having the space and time to immerse myself in writing & creativity.  Meeting liked minded people. Being led with themes & timed writing.”

“Really enjoyed the event it was good to get the chance of close reading/poetry/prose and to meet new people.”

“Enjoyed the opportunity to meet with other people keen on writing and discussion and get feedback. It feels like an inspirational and safe space. Thank you.”

“Didn’t feel under pressure, even with the poem. The pace of the class was perfect. I feel inspired to carry on writing.”

It’s lovely to read these comments and to have been part of the Open Book story. The focus on removing barriers and connecting communities through literature is a model that works. If there is funding available in future, I hope to be able to continue the group, and will know more come the autumn. Keeping my fingers crossed until then.

Fields of Meaning

/ isgfreelance / Leave a comment

The latest podcast from the postgraduate community at Aberdeen University’s School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture where I interview author Eden Unger Bowditch with fellow creative writer Jane Hughes.

Eden talks about her novel in progress Two-Hundred-and-Fifty Years at Home and her thesis Fields of Meaning which examines the role of ambiguity in the literary text. You can listen to it through clicking on the image above or find it on your preferred podcast platform.

An Open Book

/ isgfreelance / Leave a comment


Really excited to be setting up a new Open Book writing group in Aberdeenshire in the coming weeks.

Open Book are a fantastic organisation, set up in 2013 to help build communities through shared reading. Their groups now encompass creative writing and have been set up across Scotland. They are expanding their current provision with a Growth Pilot of 5 further groups in areas not currently served and which I’m very happy to be a part of.

Details will follow!

What I’m Reading

/ isgfreelance / Leave a comment

I’m a day late for International Women’s Day, but this collection of great books by wonderful women authors all offer thoughtful and enlightening perspectives on landscapes, belonging, and the nature of home and homelands. I was lucky enough to hear Chitra Ramaswamy, Kerri Andrews and Amanda Thomson read and discuss their work at Pitlochry Theatre’s Winter Words Festival last month, and I’ve been following the trajectory of Pamela Petro’s The Long Field since being published, with a new paperback edition just out.

Kerri’s entertaining, funny and at times, moving book, re-writes the canon on mountain literature, and the place of women writers within it, while Pamela Petro’s Long Field is a deep exploration of longing, language and identity. Amanda Thomson’s book weaves personal narratives of place and self through the forests of Abernethy, and Chitra Ramaswamy’s book is an exploration of borders and identities through a poignant and very moving account of her long standing friendship with two Holocaust survivors.

Each of these books explore place and identity in different ways, and speak to us at a time when both of these things are at the fore in the national and global narratives that are reshaping our world.

Great books by great women writers.

2022 Round Up

/ isgfreelance / Leave a comment

Looking back over a busy year that started on the Isle of Lewis. My trip was delayed because of the storms in January, but the beginning of the year saw me spending ten days with Island Darkroom: a great opportunity that really helped my project find its feet. 

In February the world changed of course, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which continues to mar the world with violence, loss and sadness, and it’s difficult to believe that this terrible war has dragged on now for almost a year. All we can do is hope for a resolution in 2023 that will end the needless suffering as the people of Ukraine continue to be an inspiration.

Earlier in February my writing was included in Echtrai Ed. 1 with some wonderful company, and that led to an engaging chat with the lovely and never still Helen Needham for the BBC Scotland Outdoors podcast. I also had writing published with Little Toller’s The Clearing, Paul Scraton’s online journal Elsewhere, Southlight Magazine and Poetry Scotland.

In May I read work at a symposium with The Sir Herbert Grierson Centre, and in September I gave a workshop on writing Landscape and Place as part of the 2022 Wayword Lit. Arts festival. In November I gave a paper at the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt for the Practicing Place conference.

Finally, my work featured in the long awaited book Four Rivers:Deep Maps with a chapter on the River Don, tracing its sacred associations from source to sea and exploring how they have shaped the area’s geography and identity over time. The book was published by UWAP in late September. 

I’m nearing the end of my major work-in-progress now and hope to get it out there next year which looks set to be as busy as the last, with some teaching work lined up, and hopefully an academic publication on my research and a further conference in the summer. Beyond that I hope to do some more workshops and get my thesis in on time! 

Wishing you all the very best for the year ahead and hoping the world finds itself a little kinder in 2023.