Young Writers Conference: Authors, Speakers & Performers

David Almond

David Almond is one of the nation's greatest writers for teens and young people. His first children's novel, Skellig, was published to immediate acclaim in 1998. Winning both the Carnegie Medal (1998) and the Whitbread Children's Book Award (1998). In 2007, it was shortlisted for the Carnegie of Carnegies. His subsequent novels have gone on to win numerous awards including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award) for Kit's Wilderness, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and Whitbread Children's Book Award for Fire-Eaters. He was the recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

His latest novel My Name is Mina was published last year.

David is a very inspiring speaker and is able to offer brilliant advice on developing your creative writing skills and finding inspiration.

Douglas Maxwell

Douglas Maxwell is an award-winning Scottish playwright whose work has been performed throughout the UK and abroad. He first shot to fame in 2002 when his play Decky Does a Bronco was performed by Gridiron Theatre Company. The play won numerous awards. Since then Douglas has gone on to become on of the most popular and produced playwrights in Scotland. He is currently the writer in residence at the Dundee Rep.

Elspeth Murray

Elspeth Murray is a poet and wordsmith who works in education, theatre, film, business and health. She first became ‘Poet in Residence’ in 2003, at the PR company Great Circle. Since then she has worked as Poet in Residence at Scottish Widows, Glasgow Fort shopping park and for mental health and carers projects. In 2009 she was a mentor in the Scottish Book Trusts three-way mentoring scheme and took part in the Scotland Chicago Teaching Artists Exchange Opportunity with the Scottish Arts Council. Her inspirations include love, bad language, drumming, perfume, whisky, frogs and broken flip-flops.

Gillian Philip

Gillian Philip lives in the north-east highlands of Scotland with her husband, twins and too many animals. She a full-time writer of Young Adult fiction in several genres including crime, fantasy and horror. Gillian’s books include Bad Faith (a dystopian mystery novel), Crossing The Line (a gritty story of teenage gangs), and The Opposite of Amber (a murder story set in a Scottish seaside town). She is the author of the Rebel Angels series, a fantasy set in the Scottish Highlands, of which Books 1 and 2 are so far published (Firebrand and Bloodstone). Her books have also been published in Germany, Turkey and the United States.She ghostwrites fiction for the successful book packagers Hothouse and Working Partners, and has written short educational novels for Evans Brothers including Life of the Party, Mind’s Eye, Sea Fever and Cyber Fever.

Lindsey Fraser

Lindsey Fraser is a literary agent with many years of experience working in a variety of roles in the publishing industry. She is the director of The Pushkin Prizes and also sits on the Children's Laureate steering committee. Before starting her own agency - Fraser Ross Associates - she was the director of Scottish Book Trust. Lindsey has also mentored new writers.

Lindsey will be able to offer expert advice to those interested in pursuing writing as a career.

Words Per Minute

Words Per Minute (WPM) was set up in 2010. It takes place on the second Sunday of every month in the Arches, Glasgow. The audience are treated to bursts of live music, spoken word, short film and theatrical performance. Everyone gets ten minutes to impress the audience, no matter how famous they are. Kirtstin Innes and Kirsty Logan from Words Per Minute will be entertaining you all at the conference and showing how fantastic it can be when the written word is brought to life.

Kirstin Innes

Kirstin Innes is a freelance arts journalist and writer. Her fiction has been published in Gutter magazine, New Writing Scotland and the Edinburgh International Book Festival's Elsewhere anthology, and her journalism in The List, The Herald, Scotland on Sunday, The Scotsman and The Independent. She's the winner of the 2007 & 2011 Allen Wright Award for Excellence in Arts Journalism, the 2008 Scottish Book Trust New Writer's Award, and the director of Glasgow literary cabaret Words Per Minute. Kirstin is currently working on her first novel, Fishnet.

Kirsty Logan

Kirsty Logan is an award-winning, widely-published young writer with several years' experience writing short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Her novels Little Dead Boys and Rust look at young people  and issues such as sexuality, death and indentity. For the past two years Kirsty has taught Creative Writing at Glasgow University. She performs regularly as part of Words Per Minute.