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John Bolland

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Contact: johnbolland@icloud.com
Local authority: Aberdeenshire
Languages: English, Scots
John Bolland's headshot

My writing focuses on identity, resilience and inter-generational responsibility, the predicaments we share in day-to-day working life in factories and fields, as parents and lovers. Originally from Paisley, I have based myself in the North East of Scotland for most of the last four decades.

I write across a range of forms and my poetry and short fiction in Scots and English has been widely published in magazines and anthologies. My collection Fallen Stock was published by Red Squirrel in March 2019. My practice is informed by the lived experience and language of both the North East and Central Belt, and by a long career in the international oil industry. In addition to graduating with distinction from the M.Litt course at Glasgow University, I have an MSc in Theoretical Chemistry and a strong grounding in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

I am an experienced reader and performer and, in recent years, my work has involved creative collaborations with chronic pain sufferers, folk in recovery from alcohol and drug misuse, theologians, and an advertising agency (as writer in residence). I also have experience, from my previous career, of facilitation and event management for very large groups.

(Works in Scots)

Local authorities can visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events can deliver

Bilingual event; Live drawing; Mentoring; Panel event; Performance; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop; Chairing events

Topics of work

Activism & protest; Ageing; Biography & memoir; Care experience; Class & society; Coasts, seas & oceans; Contemporary fiction; Crime fiction; Drug addiction, alcoholism & substance abuse; Environment & climate; Event production; Fairy tales, folklore & mythology; Family; Health including mental health & wellbeing; Historical fiction; History; Human rights; Loneliness & isolation; Music; Politics; Poverty; Religion & beliefs; Rural communities; Science; Urban communities; Violence & abuse

Age groups published for

Adults

Age groups can work with

15-18; 18+

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+