general vibe is very friendly and supportive. Scotish Book Trust, Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland have all supported me in various ways.” However, she adds: “I would like to see more done for emerging children’s writers of colour in Scotland and I think having myself as the Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow has helped that cause.” She also highlights the work of the Scotish BAME Writers’ Network, which conducts advocacy work and professional development for BAME writers living in and connected to Scotland. Another scheme in place to support emerging voices is the XpoNorth Writers’ Tweet Pitch, now in its sixth year, which gives writers from across Scotland the chance to pitch their work to a panel of Scotland’s literary agents and publishers on Twitter and receive feedback rapidly. Produced by XpoNorth and the Association of Scotish Literary Agents (ASLA), the project has produced several published authors, including: writer of Scottish historical and eco-fiction for children, Barbara Henderson; picture book author and illustrator Corrina Campbell; author of This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted History, Esther Rutter; and Leonie Charlton, whose memoir Marram was published by Sandstone Press last year.


THE WRITING COMMUNITY IS STRONG HERE, WITH ESTABLISHED WRITERS UNDERSTANDING THE SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES FACING NEW WRITERS THIS YEAR AND BEING SUPPORTIVE


Meanwhile, a pilot manuscript feedback scheme was recently launched called Our Voices, through aims to support around 40 unpublished writers from underrepresented communities to develop their first book-length fiction and creative non-fiction. “It’s early days for the Our Voices programme, but we have been impressed by the qualit and range of the applications to the first round,” says Brown, who is also co-chair of ASLA. In her experience, “any opportunities for new writers have seen an increase in interest and applications in the past year”, and such schemes “have become even more important in encouraging new voices and breaking down the barriers for new writers to pitch their work to Scotland’s publishers and editors”. On the festival front, in addition to Randall’s report, which lays out a roadmap for what Scotland’s literary festivals may look like going forward, Wigtown Festival Company reconvened the Scotish Book Festivals Network last December. The new network, which is initially funded by Creative Scotland, is intended to be a forum for the more than 60 festivals across Scotland to provide knowledge sharing, networking, advocacy, collaborative working, and guidance on best practice. According to Brown, Scotland’s book trade is “well aware of the problems facing writers” and rising to the challenge of boosting them. She says: “I’ve been impressed by independent booksellers supporting new writers for launches and atracting good audiences for online events. Scotish Book Trust continues to support writers in all sorts of ways. As ever, the writing communit is strong here, with established writers understanding the special difficulties facing new writers this year and being supportive, whether by endorsements, on social media, or by atending their book launches.”


07


CORRINA CAMPBELL


MAISIE CHAN


BARBARA HENDERSON


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