Donald S. Murray is a writer and poet who was awarded The UK Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize for his first novel and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award at Scotland’s National Book Awards 2021. His critically acclaimed non-fiction books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish islands, and his literary fiction explores little-known or covered-up incidents in 20th-century Scottish history. He is a well-known figure on the Scottish literary scene, speaking regularly at literary events, broadcasting on BBC television and radio, and contributing to publications including The Guardian and The Island Review.
Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet, author, scribbler, stitcher. He’s unfurled two acclaimed collections of poetry (Polygon Books) with a prose debut, Boy Friends, published by Faber & Faber in 2022. He won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, the John Mather’s Trust Rising Star of Literature Award, and was a finalist for the 2018 Writer of the Year at The Herald Scottish Culture Awards. With work anthologized by Pan MacMillan and Canongate Books, and fans that range from Stephen Fry and Shirley Manson, to Kae Tempest and Ian Rankin, Pedersen also co-founded the infamous Neu! Reekie! literary production house.
Liam McIlvanney is the winner of the Saltire First Book Award and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He is a regular contributor to publications including the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He is Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand, where he lives with his wife and four sons.
It has been 25 years since Chris Brookmyre’s first book was published. Since then, he has established himself as one of the most popular crime writers in Scotland. His enthusiasm for hurling himself into extra-curricular activities, such as the Scotland vs England Writers football, the Caledonian Challenge, Channel 5 Egg Heads, the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers and BBC Question Time, means he has more to talk about than most. At Bloody Scotland last year, he earned bragging rights when Stephen King opened his event by holding up a copy of Brookmyre’s book, Want You Gone declaring it ‘fantastic’. A TV adaptation of The Cut is in development, and Chris and his wife Marisa are currently writing the scripts.
Denise Mina is the author of fifteen novels, including the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick Conviction and The Long Drop, winner of the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime book of the year, as well as the Garnethill trilogy, the first installment of which won the John Creasey Memorial Award for best first crime novel. Mina has twice received the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. She lives in Glasgow.
Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of over twenty novels. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this series, which begun with The Way of All Flesh, is based. The Way of all Flesh was longlisted for both the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. @ambroseperry
Ambrose Parry’s Festival appearance is generously supported by Scottish Books International.
Doug Johnstone is the author of 12 previous novels. Several of his books have been bestsellers and three, A Dark Matter (2020), Breakers (2019) and The Jump (2015), were shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. He’s taught creative writing and has been a writer-in-residence at various institutions over the last decade, including at a funeral parlour. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three solo EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. Follow Doug on Twitter @doug_johnstone and visit his website: dougjohnstone.com.
Doug Johnstone’s Festival appearance is generously supported by Scottish Books International.
Sarah Broadley lives in Scotland and writes for children of all ages. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Society of Authors (SOA). She regularly reviews children’s books for on-line resource, My Book Corner, and is a trustee on the board of Cymera: Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing. Having chaired events for Cymera and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, she is delighted to be a part of the Toronto Festival of Authors.
Zita Babarczi is a second year PhD student at the University of Stirling, studying representations of gender in conspiracy literature from the late 1950s to the present day. She attained her English Studies BA (Hons) at the University of Stirling and a Modernities Masters in Literature at the University of Glasgow. Her research is funded by the Carnegie Trust.
Ruth Wishart is a journalist and broadcaster who writes a column for the Sunday National in Scotland and contributes to various other media both print and broadcast. She is an experienced book festival chair who has been an interviewer at all of Scotland’s main book festivals. She also runs one of her own in Argyll and Bute where she now lives.