Anne C Frater/ Anna C Frater

Anne was brought up in the village of Upper Bayble in the Isle of Lewis, in a home and a community where Gaelic was the main language.  After gaining an M.A.(Celtic and French) and then a Ph.D from Glasgow University, she worked in various roles in the media before returning to Lewis in 1999 to teach on the Gaelic-medium degrees at Lews Castle College UHI.  Anne’s poetry reflects on the Gaelic language and community, as well as politics and more personal experiences.  Her work has been published in various anthologies, as well as her own collections, Fon t-Slige (1995) and Cridhe Creige (2017).

George T Watt

George tells us: Sittin in ma bedsit ae Saubath dey I liftit the weeken supplement o the paper an fit fell oot but a flee’er for the Open University. Ma een settled on it but ma heid wis birlin. Efter aa thay years, aa thay dairk malagruize years, naw surely it wis ower laet. I wis noo 53 year aul. Yet the thocht o it wuidnae gang awa. I duin ae course, Literature in English, an come awa wi ae BA 1st Class Honours. Haein a degree in English gaed me the confidence tae screive in Scots! I hae noo been published in Lallans, the magazine o the Scots Language Society, Gutter, New Writing Scotland an ae couple o anthologies. I hae twice been ae ‘Runner up’ in the McCash poesie compeitition an ane o ma poems wis selected as ane o the tap twinty wi the SPL in 2014. I hae also been featured on BBC Radio Ulster’s, ‘A kist o Wurds’. In thay turbulent times I cannae see hoo onywan can screive an nae be political! Poesie anent dugs an jougs an bonnie flooers is fine, but fit div ye really think on? Masel? Weel, whiles ye cuid argie I’m nae awfy subtle. I’m fur Independence, I’m fur Europe, I’m fur ae carin, sharin society, I dinnae fit in awfy weel wi Brexit Britain. I’ll awa fur ae walk up the hills. Frae the tap o ane o Scotland’s heich bens, ye can see furth frae the darg.

Roseanne Watt

Roseanne is a poet, filmmaker and musician from Shetland, now living in Edinburgh. In 2018, her debut collection Moder Dy won the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award; Moder Dy was also nominated for the 2018 Saltire Society Poetry Book of the Year Award and the 2019 Highland Book Prize.  She is currently poetry editor for The Island Review and was the winner of the 2015 Outspoken Poetry Prize (Poetry in Film) and runner-up in the 2018 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award.  Last year, Roseanne graduated with a PhD in creative writing and filmmaking from the University of Stirling.