Authors & Chairs A-Z 2025

Molly Arbuthnott is a former teacher turned author, with a passion for children’s literature. After earning a Master’s in Children’s Literature from Glasgow University in 2021, she began writing picture books that blend storytelling with life lessons on empathy, teamwork, and moral courage. Molly has authored eighteen award-winning titles, each collaborating with a charity related to the book's theme. Her work draws inspiration from her own life and the people who have shaped it.

Chris Barkley was appointed Writer in Residence by the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2022. He won the Oxford University Kellogg Writing Competition in 2021, as well as the Bedford International Writing Prize. He has been shortlisted for the Cambridge Short Story Prize and has had prose published in TSS, National Flash Fiction, Darling Axe, and the Writers of the Future 35th anthology. He lives in Edinburgh.

Andrew Redmond Barr is a writer, illustrator and map-maker from Edinburgh. His work aims to make Scottish history and culture more accessible through a variety of unique creative projects. Andrew is the author of 3 illustrated books, the latest being a hand-drawn Atlas of Scotland. The Atlas uses hand-drawn maps and illustrations to tell Scotland’s story, exploring in detail how Scotland was made, its history and culture, as well as its long standing as one of the ancient kingdoms of Europe.

Damian Barr is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and journalist. His memoir Maggie & Me, won Stonewall Writer of the Year and Sunday Times Memoir of the Year. His debut novel, You Will Be Safe Here, was shortlisted for six major awards. He has written columns for The Times and Sunday Times and hosted Front Row on BBC Radio 4, as well as his own series Guide Books. He brought books back to television with the Big Scottish Book Club, syndicated internationally. Also on BBC TV, he presented Shelf Isolation and the landmark documentary for Sir Walter Scott’s 250th.

Amanda Barrie is an English actress. Star of stage and screen, she has appeared in two of the Carry On films before being cast as Alma Halliwell in ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, which she played on and off for 20 years. Between 2003 and 2006, she played the role of Bev Tull in the ITV prison drama, Bad Girls. Amanda has since appeared in a range of television programmes and dramas.

John Bell is an ordained Presbyterian minister (Church of Scotland), lives in Glasgow and is a member of the Iona Community. He has been actively engaged in church music for over forty years as an animateur, composer and author. With his colleagues he has published numerous volumes of congregational songs, many of which have been translated into languages as diverse as Friese and Japanese. He has lectured and conducted seminars throughout the world on issues relating to music, liturgy, scripture and spirituality, and has been honoured by church and academic agencies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Laurie Bolger is a London based writer & founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club. Her work has featured at Glastonbury, TATE, RA & Sky Arts. Laurie’s was shortlisted for The Bridport & Sylvia Plath Prizes her poem ‘Parkland Walk’ won The Moth Poetry Prize. Laurie’s publications include Box Rooms, Makeover, Spin & her debut collection Lady exploring girlhood & celebrate her working class Irish heritage.

Hilary Bonner (born 1949) is an English crime novelist, best known for her psychological thrillers. Almost all Bonner's novels are inspired by real life events, often drawing on her journalistic past.

Rhidian Brook is an award-winning writer of fiction, television drama and film. His first novel, The Testimony of Taliesin Jones, won several prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including the Paris Review, New Statesman and Time Out, and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Gordon Buchanan is an award-winning presenter and wildlife cameraman, his credits including the Planet Earth and Frozen Planet series and, as presenter, the popular Family & Me series of documentaries. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2020 for services to conservation and wildlife filmmaking. Gordon lives in Glasgow with his wife and family. In the Hide is his first book.

Graeme Macrae Burnet is a Scottish writer. His first novel, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, earned him the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award in 2013, and his second novel, His Bloody Project, was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, and Case Study was longlisted in 2022.

Peter Burns has been a sports editor for nearly twenty years. He is the author of ten critically acclaimed books, including Behind the Thistle: Playing Rugby for Scotland, This is Your Everest: The Lions, the Springboks and the Epic Tour of 1997 (which was shortlisted for the William Hill Award) and When Lions Roared: The Lions, the All Blacks and the Legendary Tour of 1971 (which was longlisted for the William Hill Award). He can be found on Twitter/X @PeterEBurns

Polly Clark was born in Canada and brought up in Scotland. Her debut novel, Larchfield, fictionalised a little-known period in the life of poet WH Auden and won the Mslexia Prize. Her follow-up, Tiger, was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. She is also the author of four collections of poetry, one of which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. She divides her time between the west of Scotland and a houseboat in London.

Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer, editor and producer based in Perth. Natalie writes for SNACK Magazine, is the Assistant Producer for StAnza Poetry Festival, and works across the arts and culture industry in a variety of roles. She is also a certified whisky ambassador and is partial to a Springbank or a Bruichladdich.

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling novels and has won various awards for her writing, including the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance, the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award. Her books have sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide and in 2015 she was inducted into the Love Stories Hall of Fame. Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland.

Children’s Laureate (2019-22) Cressida Cowell MBE is the number one bestselling author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon, The Wizards of Once and Which Way to Anywhere book series. She has sold 16 million books in 46 languages. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning DreamWorks film franchise. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, among many other literacy charities. She has won many high-profile awards for her books, as well as her work championing literacy. She lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and dogs Pigeon and Zero.

Charles Cumming was born in Scotland. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was approached by the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and used his experiences as the basis for his debut novel, A Spy By Nature which has been adapted for film by BAFTA winner and Academy Award nominee John Hodge (Trainspotting), with Paul Mescal (Normal People) attached to the lead role.

Cumming’s espionage fiction has since won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year, and his novels have been translated into fourteen languages. The Observer has described Charles as ‘the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off’.

Charles is available for interview and to write features. He has been interviewed for the likes of BBC News and BBC Radio 4 and has written for publications including The Telegraph, The Week and The Mail on Sunday.

Justin Currie has been lead singer and songwriter with Scottish rock band Del Amitri since 1980. They have sold 6 million albums worldwide and released seven studio albums, five of which have reached the UK top 10, including their most recent album "Fatal Mistakes" in 2021 which was their highest charting album for thirty years. Justin Currie lives in Glasgow.

Dougie Donnelly is a Scottish broadcaster best known for his long career with BBC Scotland, particularly in sports coverage. While not a professional footballer himself, Donnelly became a familiar face and voice in Scottish football through his work presenting Sportscene and covering major events such as the Scottish Cup and international matches. Born in Glasgow in 1953, he began his media career in radio before moving into television in the late 1970s. Donnelly's authoritative yet approachable style earned him widespread respect. Beyond football, he has also covered golf, rugby, and the Olympic Games, cementing his legacy in Scottish sports journalism.

Jill Douglas MBE is a respected and experienced sports broadcaster and journalist who regularly appears on the BBC and ITV. Jill is best known for her work in rugby, cycling and snooker and began her career as a print news journalist in the Scottish Borders before moving into television.

She became the UK’s first female rugby presenter when she fronted Rugby Special. Jill has covered a variety of major events including six Olympic Games, most recently in Paris, six Commonwealth Games, five Rugby World Cups, Lions Tours and Six Nations Championships.

A close friend of the Weir family, Jill was instrumental is the creation and success of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation in 2017 after Doddie Weir was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Having served as CEO for five years, Jill is now Patron of the MND research charity.

Gavin Esler is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, and author known for his work with the BBC, where he was a presenter for Newsnight and Dateline London. He has written five novels, a non-fiction book, and several other publications on American discontent and leadership. Esler's career includes reporting for the Belfast Telegraph and the BBC, serving as the BBC's Chief North America Correspondent, and writing for major newspapers. He has interviewed world leaders and is an award-winning presenter with honors such as a BAFTA membership and a Sony Gold Award.

Suzannah V Evans is a poet, researcher and educator. Her debut full collection is Under the Blue and she is the author of Brightwork and Marine Objects / Some Language, and the editor of All Keyboards are Legitimate: Versions of Jules Laforgue. Her poetry has been awarded the Ivan Juritz Prize for Creative Experiment and a Northern Writers’ Award, performed at international festivals and broadcast on BBC Radio. She lives in Bristol, where she teaches literature and creative writing.

Allan Gaw studied medicine at Glasgow University and trained as a pathologist. Having worked in the NHS and universities in the UK and the US, he took early retirement and now devotes his time to writing. His published non-fiction works include medical textbooks and magazine articles on topics as diverse as the thalidomide story, the medical challenges of space travel and the medico-legal consequences of the Hillsborough disaster.

Georgina Godwin is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a broadcast journalist, and presents the author interview programme Meet the Writers, and the current affairs show The Globalist on Monocle Radio. She’s also Books Editor for the station and chairs literary events worldwide. She was a founder member of Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station, before being declared an “Enemy of the State” and exiled to London. She is on the boards of the charities English PEN and Developing Artists.

Rosemary Goring was born in Dunbar and studied at the University of St Andrews. She worked at W&R Chambers as a reference editor before becoming literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. She was also the literary editor for The Herald and Sunday Herald, and is the author of two historical novels. She lives in the Scottish Borders.

Ayesha Hazarika MBE is a columnist and broadcaster who is known for her insightful and witty opinions and observations on current affairs and politics. She hosts the weekend drivetime show on Times Radio, where she dissects the weeks news and events across Westminster and beyond with a plethora of interesting and engaging guests. In 2019 she took over as Editor of The Londoner, the Evening Standard’s Daily Diary section. In 2022, Ayesha began co-hosting Take on Tomorrow, the latest podcast series produced by PwC aiming to understand the role business can play in solving some of the biggest issues facing society today.

Jennifer Morag Henderson is a writer from Inverness in the Scottish Highlands and is the author of Daughters of the North and Josephine Tey: a Life. She has been widely published in magazines and newspapers and been featured on BBC Radio and TV.

Barbara Henderson is the award-winning author of twelve books, including her latest children's adventures, To War with Wallace and I Don't Do Mountains. Her historical fiction is widely studied in Scottish schools and has won several prizes, including two Young Quills Awards from the Historical Association. Barbara is lucky enough to be based in the Scottish Highlands, with some of Scotland's most dramatic landscape on her doorstep. She splits her time between writing and teaching Drama - but spreading the story-love in schools is what she loves best!

Sir Jeremy Hunt was elected Conservative MP for South West Surrey in 2005. He was first appointed Secretary of State for Health in September2012, then served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from July 2018 to July 2019, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from October 2022 to July 2024. Before his election as an MP, Jeremy ran his own educational publishing business, Hot courses. He also set up a charity to help AIDS orphans in Africa in which he continues to play an active role.

Fiona Lindsay is a trusted presence at leading literature festivals. She brings marquee names to life with intimate, thoughtful conversations creating a relaxed atmosphere where even A-list guests they can open up.

Over the past decade, Fiona has developed and co-produced conversation shows in London's West End as well as being a longstanding collaborator with BBC Radio, Audible and Fane Productions. She has hosted backstage for The Olivier Awards, and partnered with Waterstones and Anthropologie, engaging celebrities on stage and on the red carpet. With Tim Minchin, she delivered what one critic called 'a masterclass in interview technique', uncovering heartfelt honesty and original revelations.

Lindsay Littleson lives in the village of Uplawmoor near Glasgow. She was a full-time primary teacher when she began writing for children and won the 2014 Kelpies Prize for her first children’s novel, The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean. Her ten published novels include Ice Cream Boy, The Titanic Detective Agency and Carnegie medal nominated Guardians of the Wild Unicorns.

Calum Macdonald is a presenter and journalist for Times Radio. He is one of the presenters of Times Radio Breakfast, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. He joined the station from its launch in 2020. Calum led coverage of the US Presidential election results night on-air and he was part of the overnight team which reported on Sir Keir Starmer's landslide election victory in July 2024. He's been on-location reporting on the death of Queen Elizabeth and the Coronation of King Charles; at political party conferences and on Downing Street as Prime Ministers have resigned and been elected. He also hosts the Whitehall Sources and Holyrood Sources podcasts, and produces Stormont Sources and Senedd Sources. He writes a weekly column for his local newspaper, The Stornoway Gazette. He was born and brought up in Inverness.

Rhoda Macdonald was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis and a native Gaelic speaker, following an Arts Degree from the University of Glasgow Rhoda worked in the media in various guises - firstly on screen as a programme presenter before moving to production. In the early 1990s she headed up the nascent Gaelic TV production output for Scottish Television, producing a range of genres in the language, including a very successful drama serial, a 72 episode language-teaching series that created upwards of 10000 new speakers, plus some very popular factual programmes. She became Controller of Factual Programmes (English, not Gaelic) in the late 1990s and was the Executive Producer of the Bafta Award-winning Documentary, After Lockerbie. In 2003, Rhoda moved into politics and became a special advisor to the Secretary of State for Scotland. Thereafter she has worked in agency as a communications consultant advising a range of clients. She is currently Senior Counsel at H-advisors, Cicero, part of the Havas group of companies.

Bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson has written several books for adults and children, most recently her Sunday Times bestseller Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother's dementia, The Sealwoman's Gift (2018), her acclaimed debut novel, The Ninth Child (2020) and Music in the Dark (2022). Sally lives outside Glasgow. She is available for interviews and events.

One of the UK’s most accomplished and respected novelists, number one bestseller Val McDermid has sold over 19 million books to date across the globe and her work has been translated into more than 40 languages. She has written five series of crime novels as well as several award-winning standalone novels, books of non-fiction, short story collections and a children’s picture book, My Granny is a Pirate. Her new Karen Pirie novel, Silent Bones, publishes in October 2025. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has been a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, as well as chairing the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is also the recipient of seven honorary doctorates, is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford and a Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

A London-based Scot, Craig McLean is a journalist, editor and ghostwriter ((Phil Collins’ bestseller Not Dead Yet). He's Senior Consultant Editor at THE FACE and TV Previewer at The Observer. He also writes for Wallpaper*, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The iPaper, Esquire, London Standard, Radio Times, BA High Life and, within reason, anyone else who'll have him. #writerrealpolitik

Mary McLeod is a former politician, banker, adviser to Government and most recently CEO of The King’s Responsible Business Network, Mary offers a global leadership perspective about impact, influence and ambition on the world stage.

Andrew Meehan lives in Glasgow and lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde. He is the author of three novels One Star Awake (New Island), Instant Fires (New Island) and The Mystery of Love (Head of Zeus). He has just received European Social Research Council funding for a project to study love in later life. In May he will be running a creative writing course in Mallorca in partnership with Jonny Quinn from Snow Patrol and the publishers at Muswell Press https://www.deiawriterscamps.com. Meehan was for many years Head of Development at the Irish Film Board and is a frequent contributor to arts programmes on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland.

Arts writer and broadcaster Nicola Meighan has interviewed names like Dolly Parton, Joan Collins, Martha Reeves, Judas Priest and Russell Crowe on her BBC Radio Scotland show (Friday Afternoons, 2-4pm), along with contributions to Radio 4, 6 Music, STV, The Herald, The List, MOJO, the Quietus and more. She's also worked at Monorail Music, the Arches, The Tron Theatre, Triptych festival (Grace Jones, Herbie Hancock, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Candi Staton), and with Nick Cave, Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode at Mute Records. A Kick Up The Arts is her Scottish Arts and Culture podcast: previous guests include Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Michael Pedersen, David Keenan and Deacon Blue. Listen via akickupthearts.org

Denise Mina is the bestselling author of the Garnethill trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series, as well as historical novels Rizzio, Three Fires and The Second Murderer, a Philip Marlowe novel for the Chandler estate. She has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice, the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year twice, the Gordon Burn Prize and was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2014. Denise also writes graphic novels and plays, and presents television and radio programmes. She studied law and forensic examination at Glasgow University and taught criminology and criminal law part-time at Strathclyde University. Denise lives and works in Glasgow. The Good Liar is her twentieth novel.

Leading human rights lawyer Claire Mitchell, KC, and writer, Zoë Venditozzi formed the ‘Witches of Scotland’ campaign with the aim of shining a light on the historic injustice of the Witch Trials. As a result, on International Women's Day, 2022, the First Minister of Scotland issued a formal state apology - the first time in 300 years there had been any formal recognition of those who were most wrongly accused. 

Through their tireless campaigning, regular public appearances, and highly entertaining podcast, also called ‘The Witches of Scotland’, this pair of 'quarrelsome dames' are currently working to build a lasting memorial to the accused women, and campaign to draw attention to the continued persecution of women as witches around the world today.

Doug Naylor is a British Emmy-award-winning television writer, Sunday Times bestselling novelist, and an award-winning TV director. He is best known as the co-creator (with Rob Grant) of the iconic sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf for which he wrote or co-wrote all 74 episodes. He was one of the two Head Writers at Spitting Image during the series heyday and co-penned the number one single 'The Chicken Song', for which he is not forgiven. He is also the author or co-author of three best-selling Red Dwarf novels. Sin Bin Island is his first children’s novel.

Pat Nevin is a former Scottish footballer known for his skillful wing play and intelligence on and off the pitch. Born in Glasgow in 1963, he began his professional career with Clyde before making a significant impact at Chelsea in the 1980s. Nevin later played for Everton, Tranmere Rovers, and Kilmarnock, earning 28 caps for Scotland and representing his country at Euro 1992. Renowned for his dribbling, creativity, and unorthodox style, he was also notable for his interest in music and literature. Since retiring, Nevin has become a respected football pundit and writer.

John Niven is the author of eleven novels, including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming and Straight White Male. He has written a memoir, O Brother, and as a screenwriter his credits include The Trip, Kill Your Friends and How to Build a Girl.

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is an international bestselling and multi-award-winning author. The Death of Shame marks his 30th published novel. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which their novels are based.

Michael Pederson is a prize-winning poet and author of Boy Friends, which was a Sunday Times Critics’ Choice and shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish National Books Awards. He was awarded a Robert Loius Stevenson Fellowshop and is the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh’s Makar.

Hugh Pym is Health Editor for BBC News. He has covered the field for more than a decade and was part of the BBC team covering the COVID pandemic. Prior to that he was Chief Economics Correspondent, covering the banking crisis and its aftermath. Earlier in his career he was ITN's Scotland Correspondent and stories included international developments after the Lockerbie disaster.

Marcus Railton is a journalist and communications specialist, having worked in just about every type of media going. He was Weekend Editor at LBC radio and a broadcast journalist for BBC Radio Scotland before moving into television in a variety of production roles. He currently produces and presents the ScotsCare podcast, a highly successful talk show that charts all over the world in the Apple not for profit podcast chart.

Hugo Rifkind is a columnist, critic and leader writer for The Times and a presenter on Times Radio, having formerly been a columnist for the Spectator, GQ and the Herald. He is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s comedy show The News Quiz, and an occasional guest on television shows that aren’t supposed to be funny at all. He was born and raised in Edinburgh, studied in Cambridge, and now lives in North London in a house where everybody else speaks German, including the dog.

Rob Robertson is an award-winning Scottish journalist, author and playwright. He has covered the last five rugby World Cups and is old enough to have been in the Murrayfield crowd for the 1984 Grand Slam home games and all the ones in 1990. His favourite Murrayfield memory is the win over England in 1990 although the Bruce Springsteen concert at the national stadium in 2023 came pretty damn close.

Kim Sherwood is a novelist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her award-winning debut novel Testament was released in 2018, and in 2019, Kim was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. A Wild & True Relation, following a crew of smugglers in eighteenth-century Devon, was published by Virago in 2023. A Spy Like Me is the second in a trilogy of Double O novels expanding the James Bond universe.

Taylor Strickland is a poet and translator from the US. His book Dastram/Delirium was 2023 Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and a PBS Translation Choice. His work has featured in Poetry London, the TLS, New Statesman, and more. His poetry has been The Scotsman Poem of the Week, shortlisted for several prizes, and translated into Irish and Italian. ‘The Low Road’ was adapted by American composer, Andrew Kohn, and performed in Orkney. Nine Whales, Tiree, a film-poem made with filmmaker Olivia Booker and composer Fee Blumenthaler, was selected for Bloomsday and Glasgow Cathedral festivals.

Nicola Sturgeon served as first minister of Scotland and leader of

the Scottish National Party from 2014 to 2023, and was a Member

of the Scottish Parliament since its establishment in 1999 until she resigned in March 2023. As leader of the SNP, she worked with five British prime ministers, from David Cameron to Rishi Sunak.

Jim Swire was a GP when his daughter was killed in the Lockerbie bombing. He became a spokesman for UK Families Flight 103 and has worked tirelessly for the truth to be told about the bombing. Peter Biddulph began working with Jim to tell his story in 1999. Within ten days someone had accessed his computer and copied all notes and files, including the manuscript. Jim Swire’s intention to write a book had made him a campaigner for the truth and also a ‘person of interest’.

Stephen Walsh left Glasgow in 1979 to go to university and has never quite managed to get back home. He is a knackered old teacher most of the time but has nonetheless produced three books of prose including Heartache Spoken Here (‘Country & Western’s Fever Pitch’). In the latest of his poetry collections, High Ball to the Wee Man, he measures out his life in Scotland’s failed World Cup campaigns. Like James Joyce in exile nostalgically reciting the names of all the shops in O’Connell Street, he spends his Saturday afternoons listening to Open All Mikes on Radio Scotland.

Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel, Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was  adapted into an era-defining film. He has written thirteen further novels, including the number one bestseller Dead Men’s Trousers,  four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays. Crime and The Long Knives have been adapted into a television  series starring Dougray Scott as Ray Lennox. Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami.

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author from Glasgow, Scotland who has worked as an educator in a number of different countries, including as an English teacher in China, a secondary school science teacher in Cameroon, a teacher trainer in Malawi, and an additional support needs teacher in the UK.