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2006
Programme
Artists
Competition
Winners
Children
Tickets
Contact
Directions
2005
Artists
Competitions
Winners
2004
Literature
Poetry
Winners
Children
Writers' Groups
Perthshire
Soutar House
Council Website

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October 23-28
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Patricia Ace
Patricia has had many poems and stories published in magazines all over the UK and has won prizes in
several poetry competitions. She was co-editor of The Lie of the Land (2004), an anthology of writing
from Perth and Kinross. In 2003, she published Intensive Care, a short collection of poems in pamphlet
form. A second collection will be published by Happenstance Press in 2006. Patricia is a member of
Lippy Bissoms, a group of women writers who met at the Soutar House Writers' Group,
and who are performing their cabaret-style poetry show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. |
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Lin Anderson
Lin (Linda) Anderson was born in Greenock of Scottish and Irish parents. A graduate of both Glasgow and Edinburgh
Universities, she has lived in many parts of Scotland, and spent five years working in the African bush. A teacher of
computing, she began her writing career six years ago. The script of her first film, Small Love (broadcast on STV
in 2001 and 2002, earned her a TAPS Writer of the Year Award 2001 nomination. Some of her African short
stories have been published in the 10th Anniversary Macallan collection and broadcast on BBC and European radio stations.
Driftnet, introducing forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod, was Lin's first novel, and was a summer 2003 best seller. The
Rhona MacLeod series now includes Torch, Deadly Code and Blood Red Roses. She has also written
Braveheart, dealing with the life and legacy of William Wallace. |
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Mary Blance
Mary was born in North Roe, Shetland attended school in Lerwick, then studied at Aberdeen University. She
joined as secretary/receptionist at BBC Radio Shetland in November 1978, eighteen months after the station was
launched. She was the first member of staff to broadcast in "da Midder Tongue", and became committed to ensuring
that Shetland dialect was an integral part of speech programmes on the local
station. Mary took early retirement from BBC in 2000, having been station assistant, producer, senior producer and
senior presenter over the years. She has been active in various cultural initiatives, and currently
chairs Shetland ForWirds, a group dedicated to the continuing use and promotion of the dialect. |
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Ajay Close
Author of two novels: Official and Doubtful and Forspoken.
Before becoming the William Soutar fellow in Perth, she was a writer-in-residence in
Renfrewshire. An award-winning journalist, she has written for Scotland on Sunday,
the Scotsman, the Herald, and various English newspapers. She currently reviews
books for the Sunday Herald and is working on a new novel set in Perthshire. |
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Linda Cracknell
Award-winning fiction and drama writer. Her first short story, Life Drawing won the
Macallan/Scotland on Sunday competition in 1998. A collection under the same title was published in 2000
and shortlisted for the Saltire First Book award. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies,
magazines and radio broadcasts. Two afternoon radio plays, Face Value (2003) and The Best Snow for
Skiing (2005) have been broadcast on Radio 4. Linda has been writer in residence at Brownsbank Cottage
2002-05, and has run many creative writing classes, residencies and workshops in Scotland and overseas. |
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Christine De Luca
Award-winning poet in Shetlandic, Scots and English. Collections include Voes & Sounds (1996)
and Wast wi da Valkyries (1999) - both winners of the Shetland Literary Prize - Plain Song (2002)
and Parallel Worlds (2005). Pamphlets include Earth, Air, Water, Fire (2003), Drops in Time's
Ocean (2004) and Walking Through Thyme (2004). She has also been published in numerous anthologies,
and has undertaken a number of commissioned and childrens' projects. Christine's work has been translated into
over 12 languages, and she is a regular reader at Scottish festival venues. |
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Jane Harris
Author of The Observations (2006), set in Scotland in 1863, and which began life as a short story in
1992. She was born in Belfast, and brought up in Glasgow. Jane has been awarded both an MA and a PhD in Creative
Writing from the UEA. She has also written short films, 2 of which were nominated for BAFTAs (Going Down
(2001) and Bait (1999), the earliest being Bubbles in 1987. From 1992 to 1994, she was
writer-in-residence in HMP Durham. In 2000, Jane was given a Writer’s Award from the Arts Council of England.
She lives in East London. The Observations was chosen as Waterstone’s Book of the Month for April. |
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Billy Kay
Writer and broadcaster whose work includes radio and stage plays, poetry and short stories. His plays include
Jute (1983), They Fairly Mak Ye Work (1986) and Lucky's Strike (1992). He is the author of
Knee Deep in Claret: a Celebration of Wine and Scotland (1983) and edited The Dundee Book: an Anthology of
Living in the City (1990). He created the acclaimed BBC radio series Odyssey, an oral history project,
publishing two books
Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past (1980) and Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past - the
Second Collection (1982). His television documentaries include The Mither Tongue, a survey of the history
and current state of the Scots language. |
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Ewan MacFarlane
Musician, and front man for The Grim Northern Social band. Ewan is currently doing a series of solo acoustic
gigs to promote the band while they work on their new album. Previous discs included the singles Honey and
Urban Pressure, plus the CD album The Grim Northern Social. |
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Angela McSeveney
Poet, whose collections include Coming Out With It and Imprint. She appeared in the
anthology Other Tongues (1990) edited by Robert Crawford. She has a capacity for humour and ingenious
description. Angela was a Society of Authors Award winner in 1993. |
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Richard Medrington
Winner of the Edinburgh Poetry Slam 2003 and a regular on the performance poetry circuit. Secretary of
the School of Poets at the Scottish Poetry Library. Three times shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Award
for poetry pamphlets. A puppeteer since 1984, he has performed at venues all over Britain including the
National Theatre and 12 Edinburgh Fringes. Shortlisted for the Creative Scotland Awards 2004. Married to
the Edinburgh poet Elspeth Murray. Publications include Wild Star Flight, What it's About, Bumping into
God and An Absird Book of Burds. |
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Tessa Ransford
Founder and organiser of the Scottish Poetry Library 1984-99. Founder and organiser of the School
for Poets 1981-99. Editor of Lines Review magazine 1988-99. Winner of numerous awards including the OBE,
Royal Literary Fund, Scottish Arts Council, Howard Sergeant, Heritage Society of Scotland, Saltire Society,
and the Society of Authors. Publications include Fools and Angels, A Dancing Innocence, Shadows from the
Greater Hill, Medusa Dozen, Scottish Selection, Natural Selection, Noteworthy Selection, Indian Selection,
Shades of Green and The Nightingale Question. |
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Alan Taylor
Journalist and currently writer-at-large for the Sunday Herald, previously having worked for
Scotland on Sunday and the Scotsman where he was managing editor. He is one half of the
Scottish team on Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz. He has
edited Long Overdue: A Library Reader, What a State! Is Devolution for Scotland the End of
Britain, and The Secret Annexe, an anthology of war diarists. |
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