WRITING EXPERIENCE
I am a professionally published poet and writer in English and Scots, and I have published work in books, magazines, journals and on the Internet. I was Chair of the Fife Writers Group from 1985 to 1988, and during that time we published the literary magazine Scrievins and individual poetry collections, held readings, exhibited group work in local libraries and worked in liaison with the Arts in Fife, the WEA and other community arts organisations.
Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, I edited the literary magazines Scrievins and Scots Glasnost. I have translated poetry from French, German, Greek and Hebrew into Scots.
I am currently employed by Fife Council as a Creative Writing Tutor, teaching courses at Madras College, St Andrews, and at Waid Academy, Anstruther. I also teach creative writing courses in liaison with community services, such as Adult Basic Education in Fife and the mental health organisation ENeRGI. In addition, I run classes in creative writing for children, the most recent a series of workshops delivered as part of the Waid Academy Community Use Summer Programme 2009.
My writing profile is published in the author database of the Scottish Book Trust’s website, and I am qualified to participate in their Live Literature funded projects and events.
I offer a wide range of creative writing services for individuals and groups, from private one-to-one tuition to corporate workshops. My Creative Services page contains details of these, and examples of my creative teaching work.
PERFORMANCE AND PUBLICATION
I have performed at various events and venues throughout the years, including Scottish Poetry Library School of Poets readings, the What’s Left event with Liz Lochhead and the St Andrews Arts Festival - recorded for Radio 4’s In Verse. I have read recently at poetry readings in Colinsburgh and St Monans, and will be performing from my latest work, The Spiritual Recluse and the Bebop Prism, at the Pittenweem Arts Festival and St Monans Community Arts Festival in 2009.
My writing has appeared in the following books and magazines:
Past the Hour of Darkness, 1975.
Four Fife Poets: Fower Brigs Ti A Kinrik, Aberdeen University Press, 1988.
Behind The Lines, Carl MacDougall (ed.), The Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 1989.
The New Makars, Tom Hubbard (ed.), The Mercat Press, Edinburgh, 1991.
Shamanic Warriors Now Poets, J. N. Reilly and Ira Cohen (eds.), R & R Publishing, 2003.
Fringe of Gold: The Fife Anthology, Duncan Glen and Tom Hubbard (eds.), Birlinn Books, Edinburgh, 2008.
The Spiritual Recluse and the Bebop Prism, 2009.
Lallans, The Eildon Tree, Markings, Harter, Scrievins, Scots Glasnost, Samizdat.
OTHER INFO
I obtained a First in Divinity at St Andrews University, and went on to postgraduate study, which included lecturing in New Testament Greek to first year students at Exeter University. I achieved a distinction in my PGCE studies in Religious Education and English, and subsequently worked as a secondary school teacher in Fife until I left to return to my writing career.
I compose, play and record my own music, mainly on guitar, but also keyboards and other acoustic, percussive and elemental instruments. The Spiritual Recluse and the Bebop Prism and Othersounds will feature sample tracks of my work, which will be uploaded soon.
