Anne Hamilton is a creative writing tutor and fiction editor who lives in Edinburgh with her young son. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, and is the editor of online magazine, Lothian Life, and the author of travel memoir, A Blonde Bengali Wife, which inspired the Bangladesh-based charity, Bhola’s Children.
Anne’s short stories are published online and in several anthologies; she was the winner of the New Asian Writing short story competition 2016 and was shortlisted for a FresherWriting Award 2016.
Anne has just completed her first novel.
For more information about Anne go to write right editing
or follow her on twitter @AnneHamilton7
Rick Rutjens has been a writer for as long as he can remember.
He grew up in a hamlet of four houses. There were no other kids his age.
He wrote to invent the adventures he’d be having if a) there had been other kids and b) he hadn’t been dysfunctionally shy.
He now writes words for other people and gets paid for it.
He lives on a hill overlooking the hamlet. He has no neighbours.
Sylvain Morisot: Wait, should we start by who am I or who I think I am, hmm tough question and easy answer. I believe I am a seasoned traveller with plenty of luck to do a job that can let me go wherever I want. Destination varies but must always involve playing baseball at some point. How did a boy from the French countryside end up playing baseball, well let’s say one movie made me, Bull Durham. So from countryside to bigger cities to Japan then to Scotland then to Australia I made many friends playing baseball and I am keeping the dice rolling with two good additions, my girlfriend Nadia and our little monster Isabella.
Sarah Dyer was born in South Wales in the mid 1960’s, Dyer left home at the age of 17 to work in London. She has always written fiction but until studying for her Masters in Creative Writing she was terribly shy about sharing it.
Exploring emotional truth and the concept of belonging (Hiraeth in Welsh) within her fiction, her prose and poetry celebrate the feminine.
Dyer has lived in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Aberdeen, though is settled now in Edinburgh with her two sons and rescue dog.
Her website is Domestic Harpy
You can follow her on twitter @domesticharpy
Meghan J. Ward is based in Banff, Canada. A freelance writer and the co-founder/Editor-in-Chief at Crowfoot Media, a mountain culture publishing house. Living in the heart of the Canadian Rockies gives her access to some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes and offers her year-round inspiration.
An avid adventurer, her preparenthood travels took her backpacking in the Caribbean, ski touring in the Arctic, climbing throughout the Canadian Rockies and trekking in Nepal.
Now, she and her husband Paul Zizka are dedicated to travelling abroad each year with their daughter, Mistaya, and have so far visited New Zealand, Niue, French Polynesia, Hawaii and Belize.
You can find out more here.
Of follow her on twitter @meghanjward
Stuart A. Paterson
BBC Scottish poet in Residence
Born in 1966, Paterson is a widely published & anthologised Scottish poet.
A past recipient of an Eric Gregory Award & a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, his 2015 collection of poems about Dumfries & Galloway, ‘Border Lines’ (Indigo Dreams), was voted Best Poetry Pamphlet at the 2016 Saboteur Awards in London.
His collection ‘Aye’, poems in Scots, was published by Tapsalteerie.
His first full collection since 1997 – Looking South is published by Indigo Dreams and available for pre-order now.
He lives by the Galloway coast.
Follow him on Facebook.
Sophie Isaacson, mum of baby Teddy is a part-time Youth Development Coordinator
with a passion for writing, adventuring and photography. Sophie has grown up on the remote island of Tiree off the West coast of Scotland and is currently working her way
through an English Degree with the Open university.
Sophie loves being outside with her baby boy and dog, enjoys travelling, taking photos, making jewellery and learning new things.
Nicky Torode is a teacher, trainer in personal development, coach and writer. She has written academic articles for journals, including the International Journal on Minority
Rights and various human rights NGO publications. She recently wrote Sorted – Coaching for Teenagers and several book reviews published in leadership and coaching magazines.
She is currently enjoying writing more creative pieces including flash fiction stories and travel writing.
Sarah Thewlis is a recent English Literature graduate from Oxford University. She grew up in Alicante, Spain, where she had her first experience of professional writing at the age of 14, after her novel, A Taste of Sky, was commissioned by Libros International. She is currently working on her next novel, Margery and Pain, as well as the libretto for Markheim, a new musical based on the work of R. L. Stevenson, written in collaboration with a composer at the Royal College of Music.
Follow her on twitter @sarahcthewlis
Cecile Sophie Bec is from Lincolnshire, and studies Jewellery and Metal Design and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. Before moving to Dundee, she was living in Edinburgh where she worked in the Filmhouse Bar.
Cecile has been inspired to write for a while and is glad to have taken the plunge by writing a short story.
Sandy Bennett-Haber is an Edinburgh based Australian writer. Sandy received Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Creative Writing from Monash University. Sandy became a backpacker at thirty.
She blogged her way around the world in 2011 before coming to rest in Scotland. She now has a husband and two young sons to travel with.
Sandy has had a fiction and non-fiction published in Australia and Scotland
Marcia Ulrich is a well travelled and adventurous spirit from Michigan, USA. She is a mother and a doting Grandmother who seeks out fun and friendship in the world around her.
Gary Yelen (sculptor, painter, builder of stuff and occasional writer). Gary has lived in East Gippsland since 1995, along the way to the present day he established Yelens Studio Gallery, along the shores of Lake Tyers, initiated, curated, contributed and partnered in many and varied arts projects.
Before this he lived overseas, in Israel where he honed his sculptural skills, established a partnership in the Brushwood Studios in the Republic of Ireland and exhibited, worked and sold in Europe, U.S.A, Middle East and Australia.
He now lives part time in France establishing Frukt studios and workshop, exhibiting works and developing an arts residency program.
As well as contributing a story for this collection Gary’s painting ‘You and Your Boy’ has been used for the cover art.
See Gary’s artwork and French adventuring at: frukt
David Wilke As a poet, David’s journey began over two decades ago, when he was inspired to write a few humorous words after the death of a former work colleague. From that day to the present, David finds inspiration in all manner of subjects, however it is life and love that he finds most inspiring.
To date Wilkie has had work published within 47 anthologies.
Poetic highlights include being guest poet speaker at the Aberdeen Wallace Event in 2005 before HRH.
In 2006, Wilkie published ‘In my own write: Scotland, a land o’Warrior Poets.’
You can follow him on twitter @DavidW2801
Jo Smith lives near Biggar in Scotland and enjoys writing poems and short stories about family life and the ups and downs of contemporary daily experience. The undertones and subtleties of relationships which are often overlooked in the hurry of modern living fire her imagination to capture those stories which lie just beneath the surface of our public lives. The arrival of a baby brings many challenges both practical and emotional, especially for a young mother, making the bond between parent and baby journeying together ‘against the world’ especially strong.
Helen Sheil Writes encompassing seemingly diverse genres of academic writing on rural policy, regional development and transformative community engagement to personal poems. In both she strives to convey (albeit to different audiences) the connections between people and the landscapes they inhabit. Rural lifestyle is often on the fringe of planning while also the source of renewal –something we love but leave to others to look after. Her poems share snapshots of these people and places while her academic writing unpacks practice which can integrate urban and rural areas as partners in dynamic regions. She is currently developing a style which takes the personal into the academic – a skill some have well-honed in an authentic mother tongue.
Stacey Campbell graduated with a degree in History from the University of Glasgow in 2015. Always a keen writer, her storytelling was sparked by a childhood love of Roald Dahl and the power of her imagination to conjure impossible things. Still a lover of Roald Dahl and all things strange, she lives her life by the motto ‘be kind, thankful and bold’.
In her free time, she enjoys reading Sylvia Plath, walking her dog and planning her next adventure. She is an ardent feminist and writes on a variety of topics.
Jonathan Haber Translator, IT worker and Mountain Leader; never expected to become a married father in his mid 40s – the all-consuming stress of running a small adventure travel business for 15 years had put paid to that. However, he always had and always will find inspiration in the adventure and travel parts.
He harbours a not so secret desire to return to Norway at some point and involve Sandy, Rafa and Finn in cross country skiing and snow camping escapades.
His Scottish adventures are at Walkabout Scotland
Lydia Teychenne is a creative producer within Australia’s performing arts industry. She has worked throughout Australia and internationally across a range of interdisciplinary arts projects including large-scale interactive public art projects, digital arts, gallery commissions, contemporary dance, music and theatre projects. Lydia has developed tri-continental projects and complex international collaborations between Australia, Europe and Asia. Before becoming a mum, Lydia worked with many major arts festivals and organisations and toured extensively on the international festival circuit. Since becoming a mum, Lydia consults with independent artists and the OzAsia Festival while completing her Masters in Diplomacy and Trade, in pursuit of strengthening Cultural diplomacy for Australian artists.
Erin McKittrick is a writer, adventurer and scientist based in Seldovia, Alaska, and author of:
A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski,
Small Feet, Big Land: Adventure, Home and Family on the Edge of Alaska.
Mud Flats and Fish Camps: 800 Miles Around Alaska’s Cook Inlet
My Coyote Nose and Ptarmigan Toes: An Almost-True Alaskan Adventure (picture book)
You can find her books and adventures at GroundTruthTrekking
sandy bennett-haber 