Victoria MacKenzie

I'm an experienced creative writing mentor, having tutored for the St Andrews Creative Writing Summer School for ten years, working with 15-18 year olds, and for the University for the Creative Arts for eight years, working with adults of all ages and abilities.

I’m now a freelance mentor providing feedback to individuals working on a wide range of literary projects, including poetry, memoir and fiction. I also lead reading and writing workshops for a variety of institutions and organisations including book festivals, schools and community groups.

My short stories and poems have featured in magazines and anthologies including Mslexia, New Writing Scotland and Magma. I’ve won a number of writing prizes including a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. My first novel, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain, about the medieval mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2023.

From the University of St Andrews I have an MLitt in Creative Writing and a PhD which explored contemporary poetry and science. I’ve held many writing residencies including at Cove Park, Hawthornden Castle, and Varuna, the National Writers’ House in Australia, and I’ve read my work at festivals, bookshops and libraries.