Victoria MacKenzie

My novel, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain (Bloomsbury, 2023) is about the medieval mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. A Guardian Book of the Day and a Times Book of the Month, it was also Editor’s Pick in Marie Claire magazine. My second novel, Brantwood, about the Victorian art critic John Ruskin, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.

My short fiction, poetry and essays have featured in many 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 and the Emerging Writer Award from Moniack Mhor, and I’ve been awarded writing residencies in Scotland, Finland and Australia.

I'm an experienced creative writing mentor, having tutored for the Creative Writing Summer School at St Andrews 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 and support to individuals working on a wide range of projects, including fiction, poetry and memoir. I also run writing workshops for book festivals, schools and community groups.