Former Brownsbank Fellows
James Robertson
Following his tenure at Brownsbank (1993-94), James Robertson became the first Writer-in-Residence at the Scottish Parliament. He set up Kettillonia, a small pamphlet press in 1999, and is general editor of Itchy Coo, the successful Scots children’s book imprint. James was born in 1958 and grew up in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. A poet, editor, novelist and publisher, he is an active and prolific figure in the contemporary Scottish literary scene.
His novel, Joseph Knight, won the Saltire Society Book of the Year in 2003 and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year award. His latest novel, The Testament of Gideon Mack, was published by Hamish Hamilton in June 2006 and was long-listed for the Booker Prize. He has also translated into Scots Roald Dahl's classic novel, The Fantastic Mr Fox, as The Sleekit Mr Tod.
Matthew Fitt
Matthew Fitt fi Dundee has lived all over the world – Prague, New York and Sydney – but nou bides in the muckle Lanarkshire metropolis o Coulter. He’s no feart!
His passion for the Scots language led him, in 2001, to co-found Itchy Coo - a press for children's books in Scots offering "Braw books for bairns o aw ages" - with James Robertson and Black & White Publishing,
As well as being a Brownsbank Fellow (1995-97), he has been a writer-in-residence at Greater Pollock. He has visited Holland and the Czech Republic through the British Council in a bid to introduce Scots language and culture to young people; and he has, with another former Brownsbank Fellow aonghas macneacail, addressed the United Nations.
Matthew is best known for But N Ben A-Go-Go, a cyberpunk novel set in a futuristic Scotland; Kate O Shanter's Tale and Other Poems, and the latest Itchy-Coo publication aimed at babies and toddlers, Katie's Moose. He also translates into Scots, including a retelling of Hercules and translations of Roald Dahl's classics The Eejits and Geordie's Mingin Medicine.
Gerry Cambridge
Gerry Cambridge was born in Lancashire in 1959 and has lived in Scotland since 1972, the first twenty five years of which were based in a caravan in Ayrshire. He founded the Scottish-American poetry magazine The Dark Horse in 1995 and was Brownsbank Writing Fellow from 1997-1999.
His work has appeared in the anthologies Dream State: The New Scottish Poets, The Faber Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry and The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth Century Poetry. His poetry collections include The Shell House, Madame Fi Fi’s Farewell and Other Poems, The Dynamite Project and Light Up Lanarkshire. His pamphlet Blue Sky, Green Grass: A Day at Lawthorn Primary won the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2004.
aonghas macneacail
Aonghas Macneacail was born in 1942 on the Isle of Skye. He has published several collections of poems, mostly in Gaelic with parallel English translations, including An Seachnadh/The Avoiding and Oideachadh Ceart/A Proper Schooling, the latter winning the 1997 Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year. A collection of poems in English, Rock and Water, appeared in 1990. His latest book is a collection of Gaelic poems, Laoidh an Donais Oig/Hymn to a Young Demon.
Over a period of 30 years, he has held creative writing fellowships with various community and educational bodies, including the Gaelic College in Skye, Brownsbank (2000-2002), Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and, most recently, in eight Dumfries and Galloway schools.
His work has been widely translated and has appeared in many magazines and anthologies both in the UK and abroad. He has written plays and scripts for television and radio. In 1993 he wrote a four-part documentary series on Gaelic culture for Scottish Television and Driven West, a five-part drama for BBC Radio Scotland, and has recently worked, as a co-writer, on the feature film Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle. He has also collaborated with various musicians, writing libretti and songs, and has toured all over the world to give recitals and lectures.
Linda Cracknell
Linda Cracknell is a fiction and drama writer whose short story collection Life Drawing was published in 2000 after the title story won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition in 1998. In 2001 Life Drawing was short listed for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. Her second collection The Searching Glance has recently been published by Salt Publishing.
A number of Linda's stories and plays have been broadcast by BBC Radio. The Best Snow for Skiing, her play about poet Hugh MacDiarmid's wife, Valda Trevlyn Grieve, was broadcast by Radio Four in July 2005. The play was inspired by Linda's position as Brownbank Fellow (2002-2005).
Linda is also a creative writing teacher and workshop leader with various residencies in Scotland and further afield, including mentoring African writers through the Lancaster University/British Council ‘Crossing Borders’ scheme. In 2006, she worked as a visiting writer on the Arts Across the Curriculum project in Dumfries and Galloway.
Tom Bryan
Tom Bryan was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1950, to a Scottish mother and Irish-Canadian father. He has previously been writer-in-residence for Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Borders and Arts Development Officer for Caithness. He currently lives in Kelso and plays blues harmonica for fun.
Tom has edited three magazines: Northwords, The Broken Fiddle and The Eildon Tree. He is a widely published fiction and non-fiction writer. His poems and stories have been widely published in literary magazines throughout the world during the last two decades.
He is the author of several anthologies of poetry and short stories, non-fiction and novels, including: North East Passage; Rattlesnake Road; Redwing Summer; Rich Man, Beggar Man, Indian Chief; The Sons of Macomish; The Wolfclaw Chronicles; Twa Tribes; and Wolfwind.
Tom is an experienced and respected workshop leader and performer. He has worked in schools, community centres and youth clubs, prisons and with adult writing groups and those with learning disabilities. He is thoroughly down to earth and unpretentious about writing and writers.