Lynnda Wardle

I was born Johannesburg and have lived in Scotland since 1998. Making a new life in a different country has influenced the stories I tell about identity and the places we come to call home. My personal experience of family, adoption and immigration are the material I draw on when writing and facilitating the writing of others.

My work has appeared in various publications and anthologies including Gutter, New Writing Scotland, thi wurd, New Orleans Review, Glasgow Review of Books and PENning magazine.

In 2007 I was awarded a Creative Scotland New Writer's award and was shortlisted for the Scottish Book Trust Next Chapter Award in 2015. In 2019 I was short-listed for the Fish Memoir prize.

​I love facilitating writing workshops and encouraging writers (of all levels) from diverse backgrounds, ages, cultures and faith traditions to tell their personal stories. Memoir, life writing and the personal essay are forms I am passionate about. Most recently I delivered a series, the Writer's Kitchen, bringing food and intercultural memories of food to the table. I would be open to discuss any writing ideas that you might have.

​I have completed my first book ‘Joburg Girl: a memoir’ based on my experiences of being adopted in apartheid South Africa.