‘Y


e’ll be awright, hen, ye’ve a guid Scots tongue in yer heid.” With these words – also the closing line of her most celebrated poem, I’m


No Havin Children – Lenn Pennie concluded her memorable acceptance speech at The British Book Awards this year, after winning the Discover Book of the Year Nibbie for her debut poetry collection, poyums, published in 2024. Now, hot on its heels, comes Pennie’s second


collection, poyums annaw, which like its prede- cessor contains work in both Scots and English, sometimes dancing between the two languages within a single poem. With her signature clever rhyming couplets, and arrest- ing titles including How Do Tears Work in Zero Gravity? and Aince Upoan a Bus Ride, the collections confronts patriarchal norms, gender-based violence and societal injustice with a tender vulnerability, a jousting wit and not a little righteous fury. Speaking to me via video call from her home in central Scotland, Pennie is still thrilled by her Nibbies triumph. “For a Scots language book to win a national British book award… that was something I wasn’t expecting because Scots has such a history of being looked down on. So to be celebrated in that kind of space was really special”.


as her reflections on her own state of mind, and the state of the world. “My posts allow me the space to be emotionally honest. And physically honest too: sometimes I’ll appear with a massive plouk(1)


on my face,” she laughs. “I think people


need that because social media is very curated and can make you think that you’re the only one struggling. I think we need a bit of emotional honesty, even if that honesty doesn’t always make me look the best.” When her agent, Ludo Cinelli, first urged


her to write a book, Pennie was reluctant. “I thought that if I trapped my poems in amber on the page, no one would enjoy them.” But Cinelli persisted and when poyums was finished, he pitched it to Canongate. From her first meeting with the publisher, Pennie knew she had found the right home for her debut. “They knew my work, they knew my values, it was a really good match.” She praises Canongate for prioritising her mental and physical health and her safety. Pennie has never made a secret of her mental


poyums annaw has the same bones; the same core values of connection and celebration of language, as well as the idea of being thrawn, which means stubborn, sticking to your guns


Still in her 20s, performance poet Pennie –


who has more than 700,000 followers on TikTok and over 500,000 on Instagram – has built a devoted following for her Scots Word of the Day video posts, which often garner more than one million views. Brought up in Airdrie speaking both Scots and English, Pennie was inspired to begin posting during lockdown. “I discovered that many of my friends from university [Pennie studied Spanish at the University of St Andrews], both from Scotland and elsewhere, hadn’t ever come across the Scots words I use. So I decided to start spreading the gospel, and tweeted my first Scots word. Then someone asked how to pronounce the word, and I thought, okay, I’d better do a video to explain that.” Initially, she thought she would keep it up for two or three weeks. “And five years later, I’m still doing the videos and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Over time, Pennie’s posts have developed and expanded to encompass her poetry as well


health struggles, but while working on her first collection she was enduring a particularly dark and challenging time as she battled to escape a physically and emotionally abusive former partner. That battle only concluded with his sentencing, a month before she was due to go on tour to mark the publication of poyums. That she did so, and that poyums went straight into the bestseller lists, becoming the top-selling poetry debut of 2024, speaks volumes for her courage and tenacity. In an email, Canongate communications director Anna Frame tells me: “Len did all of that in the face of security threats, endless online misogyny, and a heavy dose of literary snobbery.” In turn, Pennie is full of praise for Frame, to


whom she also paid tribute in her Nibbies acceptance speech. “Anna managed to take a mentally ill and traumatised woman on a book tour and make sure that I was not only comfort- able and safe but actually enjoyed the process.” Pennie is now looking forward to the raft of bookshop events planned for the publication of poyums annaw. In the afterword to poyums, Pennie summa-


rises that book as “an attempt at healing”. So how does she summarise poyums annaw? “I think of it as a sister collection. It has the same bones; the same core values of connection and celebration of language, as well as the idea of being thrawn, which means stubborn, sticking to your guns. But I also feel that I’ve developed so much. poyums was introspective and personal. poyums annaw feels more political in the sense that it is about people and the issues they face, and the challenges we need to address. It’s not a despondent book, it’s a call to action. And I feel more confident now to actually call myself a poet, so I’ve allowed myself to stretch my creative muscles, not just subject-wise but also in terms of form.” Lemn Sissay has called Pennie “a poet who


redefines what poetry is and who it is for”. As her publicist Frame points out, more than a


poyums Canongate, £10.99, PB, 9781837260218 Winner of the Discover Book of the Year at The British Book Awards in 2025, a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month, and awarded the 2024 Scots Book of the Year. “Pennie already – in this first collection - shows an impressive command of poetic technique […] this intense and remarkable collection now marks her out as a poetic voice to be reckoned with – strong, tested, skilful, driven and facing firmly towards the future,” said the Scotsman.


13,288 TCM copies sold


Key backlist


little literary snobbery surrounds her poetry, but Pennie is to be commended for her determination to speak to a wide audience with her poetry. And as with her daily Scots word, which she encourages us to speak aloud along with her, she urges us to take her books and the poems “and say them, sing them, scream them”. Uplift, satire and humour also reside in


Pennie’s work, for example in Haggis Gies Me the Boak, a haggis-hating poem in which she upends the sacred Scottish tradition of Burns Night. And her latest poems also channel the joy she takes from words and the happiness she has found in her current relationship. Appropriately, poyums annaw is also, she says, a book about love in all its forms. “It took me a long time to even begin healing from everything I went through. Now I’m relearning to love myself and it’s been great to document that in the book.” Len Pennie is a distinctive talent. Lang may her lum reek(2)


.


Full translations of the Scots words in this profile, may be found via free resource, Dictionaries of the Scots Language (www.dsl.ac.uk)


Glossary 1. spot 2. may she live long and prosper


07


Books Author Profile


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