Events
Upcoming Events
- Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh, Sunday 21st August 2022I can’t wait to get back to the fantastic Edinburgh International Book Festival! I’ll be talking “Secrets and Lies” with Fiona Erskine and Alex Gray, and I think it will be a fascinating event. Read more and get your tickets from EIBF here.
- Chiswick Book Festival
Chiswick, London, Sunday 11th September 2022I’m thrilled to be heading to Chiswick to appear at this brilliant book festival with Alex Gerlis. We’ll be talking “All Thriller, No Filler” in a discussion about the thriller genre chaired by Julian Worricker. Read all about it and get your tickets here.
- Nigg Hall Book Fair
Nigg Hall, Saturday 24th September 2022The Nigg Hall Book Fair returns as part of the St Duthac Book & Arts Festival. Hope to see you there!
- Highland LIT
Inverness, Tuesday 18th October 2022It will be an absolute joy to go back to Highland LIT for this in-person AND live-streamed event. I’ll be talking about all my books, including the crime trilogy and the new science fiction series I’m writing for my Creative Scotland Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship.
More details on the HighlandLIT website.
Recent Events
- Tain Community Market
Tain, Saturday 16th July 2022
A beautiful day at the Tain Community Market.
- Book Launch!
Dornoch Bookshop, Wednesday 6th July 2022
Thank you to everyone who came along to my gorgeous local bookshop – this was the perfect launch for What Doesn’t Break Us and I loved every minute of it.
- Flex Your Writing Muscles
Society of Authors SoA@Home, Online, Tuesday 28th June 2022I really enjoyed teaching this online workshop with author Kate Tough as part of the Society of Authors SoA@Home series, and the great news is that you can still watch it online!
- All The Way Home
Online, Tuesday 24th May 2022
I loved celebrating the launch of this important anthology in support of Rock Trust. Learn more about the anthology and the work of Rock Trust on their website.
- Bristol Crime Fest
Bristol, Saturday 14th May 2022
What a great few days I had at Bristol Crime Fest. I went to university in Bristol, and hadn’t been back in years, so it was really great to see the city again. Read more about it and see the whole programme on the Bristol Crime Fest homepage.
- Scottish Book Trust workshop
Debut Lab, 25th April 2022
- Talk and book reading for U3A
Mercat Centre, Milton, 17th March 2022
- Granite Noir
Aberdeen, 26th Feb 2022
A highlight of the year so far, what a great weekend.
- Noir at the Bar
Edinburgh, 27th Jan 2022
Such a fantastic evening! Thank you, Noir at the Bar.
- Wigtown Book Festival
Online, 1st October 2021Brilliant to teach an online seminar about the editing process for the wonderful Wigtown Book Festival.
- St Duthac Book & Arts Festival
Tain, 25th September 2021What an honour to be part of the first ever St Duthac Book & Arts Festival. I loved it so much I have joined the organising committee for next year.
- Nairn Book & Arts Festival
Nairn, 9th September 2021A stunning festival in Nairn – we are back in person (some of the time)!
- John O’Groats Book Festival
Online, 24th April 2021I really enjoyed this joint event about women through the centuries with author Liz Treacher.
- HighlandLIT
Online, April 2020A huge thanks to HighlandLIT for managing to move so gracefully online during the pandemic! This YouTube reading and Q&A was a joy.
- Challenging The Narrative
Lighthouse Books, Edinburgh, Thursday 12th March 2020
What an inspiration it was to talk about Challenging The Narrative and subverting the status quo with Rachel Plummer, Jemma Neville and Jane Alexander. If this is to be my last event for a while, it was a wonderful one.
- Portmahomack
Portmahomack Ladies Group, Tuesday 11th Feb, 2020What a joy to meet everyone from the Port Ladies Club an talk about all my books with some local readers. Thank you for inviting me, and for the delicious tea and cake!
- January Book Launches
Waterstones Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh, January 2020For my book launches it was an honour to invite local writers to share the stage with me, as we talked about Highland Crime in Inverness, historical crime and mystery in Glasgow, and crime & politics in Edinburgh.
THANK YOU Margaret Kirk, SG MacLean, Barbara Henderson, Jennifer Morag Henderson, Mary Paulson-Ellis, Gill Tasker, Claire Askew, and Viccy Adams. How lucky I am to know so many talented and generous writers. What a wonderful way to launch When The Dead Come Calling.
- When The Dead Come Calling Book Tour
Scotland, Jan-April 2020UPDATE
Due to COVID-19 I don’t know if my planned events in Skye and Inverness will be going ahead. I will try to update here as soon as I know.The Book Tour starts on January 9th in Inverness and will take me to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Portmahomack, Skye and more! I’ll be chatting to lots of wonderful local writers about Crime Fiction and why we write it. I would love to see you there.
- Book Week Scotland
Dornoch Library, Wednesday 20th November 2019Writers in Conversation: I loved talking with Philip Paris and Liz Treacher.
- Book Week Scotland
Tillydrone Library, Aberdeen, Saturday 23rd November 2019What a great event this was, such fascinating audience questions for “Science and Fiction”.
- South West Library
Greenock, Monday 21st October 2019It was wonderful to talk to the library’s astronomy group about The Comet Seekers and how my background in both astrophysics and biophysics has inspired my writing.
- The World
WoMentoring Project, 2019I love being part of the brilliant WoMentoring Project as a mentor. Applications are open, so if you’re a new or emerging writer, or you’re looking to change field, or you’d like more peer feedback, or you need advice from someone who has been an editor and a publisher as well as an author, please do apply! I can’t wait to start work with my new mentees.
- Highland LIT
Inverness, 15th October 2019I loved teaching this workshop on The Editing Process at the brilliant Highland LIT in Inverness. More info and a truly wonderful write up here.
- Lochcarron Library
Lochcarron, 13th August 2019, 6.30pmA wonderful evening at the beautiful Lochcarron library.
- The Old School Beauly
Beauly, Saturday 10th August 2019, 11am-noonI really enjoyed this event with local authors Liz Treacher and Philip Paris, a morning of relaxed and friendly chat about books and writing at the beautiful Old School Beauly.
- The Dornoch Bookshop
Dornoch, 3pm Saturday 25th May 2019I loved my meet-the-author and The Growing Season book signing afternoon at my gorgeous local independent, The Dornoch Bookshop! Look at the amazing window display they made for me. So many friends, neighbours, writers and readers came along, and I even baked some cakes – it was the perfect party for The Growing Season.
- Kate Tough and Helen Sedgwick
Waterstones Inverness, 6pm Thursday 23rd May 2019Kate Tough is one of my favourite writers and so I particularly enjoyed discussing her wonderful book Keep Walking, Rhona Beech (that I edited in a former reincarnation!) along with The Growing Season in Waterstones Inverness. More info here.
- Celebrating the New Writers Award
Waterstones Aberdeen, 6pm Thursday 9th May 2019I’m really enjoyed reading from The Growing Season and celebrating ten years of the amazing Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award at this special event with myself, Wayne Price and Christine Laurenson.
- Women Writing Dystopia
Waterstones Covent Garden, 14th March 2019
I had a fantastic evening introducing The Growing Season paperback to the world and discussing Women Writing Dystopia with the brilliant Hanna Jameson and Sophie Mackintosh. The event was sold out and the beautiful Waterstones Covent Garden was full to bursting!
- Book Week Scotland
Irvine, 24th Nov 2018I loved being part of this readers day in Irvine for Book Week Scotland! I lead sessions on The Comet Seekers and Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, as well as being part of the author panels and Q&A sessions.
- Tain Library
Book Week Scotland, 22nd Nov 2018I was delighted to head over to my beautiful local library in Tain to talk about The Comet Seekers and The Growing Season for Book Week Scotland.
- Lewis
Stornoway Library, September 2018What a joy it was to visit Lewis and Harris, talk about my books and teach a workshop at the lovely Stornoway Library.
- Lumb Bank
Arvon, May 2018I was honoured to be the guest speaker at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank in May 2018. More details about the course here and the amazing venue here.
- Book Week Scotland
Waterstones Inverness, 30th November 2017This was a special showcase night for Book Week Scotland from the brilliant NessBookFest team, combined with an Inverness Waterstones launch for The Growing Season. A wonderful evening!
- Book Week Scotland
Waterstones Aberdeen, 28th November 2017, 7pmA celebration of books for Book Week Scotland and my Aberdeen launch for The Growing Season! Thank you, Waterstones Aberdeen, for a brilliant event. Full details and more about Book Week Scotland here.
- Picaresque Books
Dingwall, 25th November 2017, 2pmI loved reading from The Growing Season, answering questions and signing books in the beautiful Picaresque Books in Dingwall – there was even festive spiced apple punch, and a gorgeous bunch of flowers! They know how to make an author feel special.
- Writers on Publishing
Edinburgh, 14th November 2017Fascinating panel discussion and great audience questions about publishing, all arranged by the fab Claire Askew, Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University.
- Dundee Book Festival
Dundee, 22nd October 2017I loved my time at the Dundee Book Festival talking about ‘The Art of Science’ with the brilliant Kaite Welsh.
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- Islay Book Festival
Islay, 29th September – 1st October 2017I had a wonderful week on the beautiful island of Islay for the 2017 Islay Book Festival. I was talking about ‘Stories of Life and Space’, chairing Ken MacTaggart and teaching a workshop with ES Thomson.
- Islay Book Festival
- Inverness Launch – Highland Lit Salon
Inverness, 19th September 2017This was the perfect Highland launch for The Growing Season! Wonderful to see so many friend there, and my aunt Karen even came all the way from Australia…
- Edinburgh Launch – Golden Hare Books
Edinburgh, 15th September 2017I had a wonderful time at this beautiful bookshop, with such an engrossing discussion I think we could have gone on all night!
- Glasgow Launch – Waterstones Argyle Street
Glasgow, 7th September 2017A huge thank you to everyone who came along to the launch – it was the perfect way to welcome The Growing Season into the world.
- Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh, 12th August 2017I was thrilled to head back to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where I was reading from The Growing Season and talking with the brilliant Sarah Moss. Photo by Michael Gallacher aka twistyfoldy.net
- Solas Festival
Perthshire, 23rd-25th June 2017I had a fantastic time speaking at Solas Festival this year, previewing The Growing Season to the best audience I could imagine – writers, friends, and new acquaintances who all seemed as fascinated with the (so far) fictional technology of the ‘baby pouch’ as I am. I hope the novel will get such a good reception!
- XpoNorth
Inverness, June 8th 2017XpoNorth was brilliant this year, and I was on the panel Northern Networks: Publishing and Writing in the Highlands and Islands. It was great to discuss the vibrant writing and publishing scene in the Highlands with author Barbara Henderson, Sandstone Press and Cranachan Publishing, and Gill Tasker from Publishing Scotland.
- Skye Reading Room
Skye, March 28th 2017Absolutely loved my time on Skye for a book reading and Q&A. The weather was beautiful, and I’ve never seen Skye looking so spectacular. I read from The Comet Seekers and gave a sneak preview of my new novel, The Growing Season. Thank you to everyone at the Skye Reading Room for this fantastic visit!
- Aye, Write!
Glasgow, March 9th 2017It was such a pleasure to be part of the brilliant line-up to celebrate the launch of 404 Ink at Aye Write.
- Waterstones Edinburgh
Edinburgh, December 1st 2016Christmas in the lovely Waterstones Edinburgh, with cakes and fizz and a stellar line-up of readings from the likes of Mary Paulson-Ellis, Martin MacInnes, Shelley Day and me!
- Gliterary Lunch
Glasgow, November 30th 2016Gliterary Lunches are as sparkly as you would imagine from the name – wonderful food, chandeliers, candles, fizz, and (in Glasgow this November) readings from myself and the brilliant Carys Bray, all chaired wonderfully by Karen Campbell! Here’s the room before the 200 guests arrived… And the great news is they run throughout the year in cities around the UK – read all about it here.
- Waterstones Byres Road
Glasgow, November 29th 2016Such a joy to give a Christmas reading in the beautiful Waterstones on Byres Road in Glasgow – and I even read a passage from Comet Seekers with the word Christmas in it. All expertly chaired by Kirsty Logan… Thanks everyone for being there!
- Dundee Libraries, Book Week Scotland
Dundee, November 23rd 2016For Book Week Scotland I gave a reading in the lovely Broughty Ferry Library, followed by a fascinating Q&A with Anna McFarlane. I loved every second – thank you for inviting me, Dundee Libraries and Scottish Book trust!
- Highland Literary Salon, Book Week Scotland
Inverness, November 22nd 2016Book Week Scotland in Inverness, and I was on a panel talking about literary prizes and putting yourself out there. Great write up from Aoife Lyall here!
- Ness Book Fest
Inverness, November 12th 2016I had such a great time at the new Inverness Book Festival, NessBookFest! You can keep up to date with the plans here, and I for one am looking forward to next year already.
- Oban
Oban Waterstones, October 22nd 2016I had such a wonderful time in Oban! I was there to give a book reading, signing and Q&A at the beautiful Waterstones. They’d made a gorgeous display of The Comet Seekers, accompanied by celestial notebooks, flowers, astronaut badges, solar system puzzles and glow in the dark stars! And then they brought out the heavenly homemade comet-themed cakes… Let’s just say I’m very keen to go back soon. Thank you, Waterstones Oban!
- Dingwall Book Festival
Dingwall, October 15th 2016I loved appearing at the Dingwall Word On The Street Book Festival in October! As my local book festival I was particularly excited and pleased to have an event and book signing in the beautiful Picaresque Books. The whole day was a literary and wonderfully friendly joy.
- Durham Book Festival
Durham, October 8th 2016I really enjoyed taking part in the New Scottish Writing event at Durham Book Festival, with the wonderful Lucy Ribchester and Shelly Day Sclater.
- Inverness Book Launch
Inverness, September 29th 2016Huge thank you to everyone who came along to my Inverness book launch – I had such a brilliant night! And thanks to Waterstones Inverness for excellent hosting and window displays too.
- Wigtown Book Festival
Wigtown, September 25th 2016Wigtown was as beautiful as I remembered, with such an inspiring book festival – we even found the time for a few days camping afterwards. Gorgeous!
- Edinburgh Book Launch
Waterstones, Edinburgh, September 14th 2016My Edinburgh book launch was an absolute joy – thank you so much to everyone who came along, and to Waterstones on Princes Street in Edinburgh, for a superb evening. You can look through lots of photos from the event by Chris Scott here.
- Launch of The Comet Seekers
Glasgow, August 25th 2016The Comet Seekers was launched in Waterstones Argyle Street in Glasgow. It was a launch party with a difference – wine, fizz, plenty of time to chat, with a short reading from me and some book signings… and there was a huge comet cake as a surprise! But mostly it was a chance to celebrate with friends and family, old and new. Thanks to Michael Gallacher (twistyfoldy.net) for the photos, and thank you to everyone who came along – it was wonderful!
- Edinburgh Book Fringe
Edinburgh, August 18th 2016I loved talking at the brilliant Edinburgh Book Fringe, which took place in Word Power Books, Edinburgh. Our event was called The Science That Inspires, and I was talking with authors Jane Alexander and Viccy Adams about our science-inspired novels, covering topics of astronomy, time travel, and virtual reality. Huge thanks to Elaine at Word Power Books for inviting us to speak!
- Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh, August 17th 2016Such a joy to speak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival! The whole programme was superb, and it was great to speak to so many people afterwards at my book signing too. The Comet Seekers is up for the First Book Award, so if you read it and enjoyed it you can vote for me if you’d like to.
- Scot Lit Fest
Twitter, June 26th 2016I loved taking part in Scotland’s virtual literary festival. I was in the Debut Showcase on Sunday 6th June. Sign in to twitter to read the conversation! @scotlitfest #ScotLitFest
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- Grrrl Con
Edinburgh, June 12th 2016I really enjoyed teaching my Pitch and Plot workshop at Grrrl Con in Edinburgh. It was a great weekend of events, full of talented new writers and inspiring ideas and stories. For other events they run, click here. And there’s a brilliant write-up of the event, written by Heather McDaid, here!
- Grrrl Con
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- Stoke Newington Literary Festival
London, June 5th 2016It was a joy to talk at Alex Clark’s Rising Stars event at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival, and so nice to meet my fellow panellists (left to right) Alex Clark (our host), Lissa Evans, Susie Steiner, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, and Harry Parker. I’m the one in the green top.
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- Write Like A Grrrl
Edinburgh, March 2016It was great to talk to all the writers at Write Like A Grrrl in Edinburgh – big thanks to Claire Askew for inviting me as guest speaker for the Q&A.
- Write Like A Grrrl
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- Stoke Newington Literary Festival
