The newly-formed (August 2005) Balfron High School Creative Writers’ Group is comprised of 40 enthusiastic and committed young writers, and a few members of staff. An impressive and varied roster of authors and artists will visit the group this year, to support the development of their creativity and writing skills. 

Autumn term

Alex Gray was born and educated in Glasgow. She’s an exciting new author who has worked as a folk singer, a visiting officer for the Dept of Social Security and an English teacher. She has been awarded the Scottish Association of Writers Constable and Pitlochry trophies for her crime writing. Married with a son and daughter, she now writes full time and is Keenly involved with local writers' workshops. She now writes full time. Some of her books are; A Small Weeping, Never Somewhere Else and Shadows of Sounds. She was warmly and enthusiastically received by the group during her September visit. 

Nalini Paul is a writer based in Glasgow. She was born in India, grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and has been living in Scotland for 11 years. Because of her identification with these three countries, her poetry tends to focus on fragmented identity and a sense of place. Nalini’s poetry has been published in Poetry Scotland, Poetry Now and GroundSwell Magazine. An excerpt of her novel in progress (then entitled Dali) was published in Word Jig: New Fiction From Scotland, a New York based anthology, which can be ordered from Amazon.com. She is currently studying for a PhD at Glasgow University in the English Literature Department. She was recently appointed Writer in Residence of the Ruby Orange Gallery in Biggar, where her poetry can be viewed in collaborative exhibitions. While speaking with the Creative Writing pupils in October, she introduced Concrete Poetry, and lead a pleasant hour of poetry activities.

Gillian Bastock, a former primary teacher, began her second career as a poet, playwright and director after facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. Recently, she was commissioned by the director of the Smith Art Gallery and Museum (Stirling) to write play in commemoration of the 700^th anniversary of the death of William Wallace. This play Oor Wallace was performed in September of 2005, and was received enthusiastically and warmly as a great success. She was the Learn Direct Champion Learner 2004, and has received a number of other literary and personal achievement prizes. She shared her moving story with our writers in November 2005, about her evolution as a writer and her re-emergence as a literate person.

Frank Hotchkiss is a successful playwright and director, and has received glowing reviews for his Edinburgh International Festival play, A Perfect Match.  While speaking to our writers in a delightful session in early November 2005, he guided them through the process of monologue-writing, and encouraged our pupils to persevere through the “re-write” stage of their work. 

Frank's newest play "Friday Girls" will make its debut at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2006. Members of the cast include five pupils who attend BHS.

Frances McCourt was born Ayrshire and graduated in June 2002 from the Fine Art Department of Glasgow School of Art. Along with her collaborator Scottish writer Suzanne McGruther, her exhibit House (based on semi-rural landscape and notions of home, alienation in landscape and contemporary ideals of the picturesque) was well-received.

Robin Lloyd-Jones is a former lecturer in literature at Glasgow University. He’s the author of ten books and many articles and radio-plays.  Long affiliated with Scottish PEN, he introduced the good work of that organisation to our writers, and provided them with many simple but practical tips on how to improve their fiction writing. We’re looking forward to Robin’s return to the group in the spring, where he will develop their creative writing skills and talk more about dissident writers and writers in exile.   

In addition to our guest speakers, a number of pupil members organised and ran sessions which were also highlights of our introductory season; Katie Brown (music as a catalyst for writing, Ben Robertson & Ross McQueen (Haiku and Japanese culture), Ashley Cameron (Ancient Egyptian culture).  

In 2006: we’re looking forward to visits from the following writers:

Valerie Thornton  is a poet and short story writer, who is a Fellow at the University of Glasgow for 2005/06. She also teaches creative writing and  writes textbooks on creative writing and edits anthologies.

For over 20 years, her poems and short stories have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in the UK, Ireland, Europe (in translation), Canada and America. She has received a Scottish Arts Council bursary, been shortlisted for the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story prize and, in the biennial Asham short story prize, she was shortlisted in 2001 and a prize-winner in 2003.

Her first collection of poems, Catacoustics (Mariscat Press) was published in 2000. She is co-editor of New Writing Scotland and edits (and helps to inspire) the annual anthologies of children's writing from Renfrewshire Libraries.

Her creative-writing textbook, Working Words (Hodder Educational 1995), won joint first prize as Times Educational Supplement Scotland and Saltire Society Scottish Educational Book of the Year. She is currently writing a book on writers' craft for 11 to 14-year-olds and developing an online CPD (Continuing Professional Development) course for teachers, for SNAP (the Scottish Network for Able Pupils.

She also teaches fiction-writing online for the Open University. A former English teacher, her wide-ranging experience of teaching creative writing over the last 20 years includes working with school pupils from 10 to 18 years old, working with teachers, and leading workshops for many different

Anne Donovan is the author of the novel Buddha Da and the short story collection, Hieroglyphics. Buddha Da was short-listed for the Orange Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Scottish Book of the Year Award and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It received a Scottish Arts Council Award and won Le Prince Maurice Award in Mauritius in 2004.  Anne won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Award in 1997 and was a Canongate Prize winner in 2000. She has also written for radio and the stage and has been working on the screenplay for the film of Buddha Da. Her visit to the BHS Creative Writers’ Group is her only visit to a secondary school in Scotland this year.

If you have any questions about anything on this page please contact:

Mrs S Aldous and Mrs K. O'Donnell on 01360 441630