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Summary Further details
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Laura Hird: Further Details Portfolio Children of Albion Rovers - (contributor) - Canongate, 1997 - novella Nail and Other Stories - Canongate, 1997 - short story colection Rovers Return - (contributor) - Canongate, 1998 - novella Born Free - Canongate, 1999 - novel Hope & Other Stories - Canongate, 2006 - short story collection Dear Laura - Canongate - to be published March 2007 - non-fiction book Anthologies New Scottish Writing (contributor) Flamingo; Typical Girls (contributor) Sceptre; Damage Land (contributor) Polygon; The Hope That Kills us (contributor) Freight Design; Strictly Casual (contributor) Serpent’s Tail; A Change of Face - Contemporary Scottish Writing (contributor) The Literary Review (USA); Word Jig: New Fiction from Scotland – Hanging Loose Press (USA) Translations A full list is available upon request. Magazines Stories and articles published in: The Face, The Big Issue, Guardian, Scotland on Sunday, Billy Liar, Verbal, Cencrastus, Chapman, Grand Street (USA), Front and Centre (Canada), Blvd (Netherlands), Bang (Sweden), Barcelona Review, Story (USA), Liar Republic. I have supported myself as a self-employed writer since my first short story collection, ‘Nail and Other Stories’ was published by Canongate Books in 1997. My second collection, ‘Hope and Other Stories’ was published by Canongate in 2006, and a non-fiction book about my relationship with my mother, ‘Dear Laura’ will be published by Canongate in 2007. My novel, short story collection and novellas have been translated into French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Danish and Polish. My novel, ‘Born Free,’ published in 1998 was nominated for the Orange and Whitbread Prize. I am currently working on a new novel, which has been commissioned by Canongate. I regularly tutor and co-tutor residential creative writing courses for The Arvon Foundation. Since first working for the Foundation in 1998, I have co-tutored courses in Writing Fiction, The Short Story and Starting to Write etc with fellow Scottish writers including Irvine Welsh, Kevin MacNeil, Bernard McLaverty and John Glenday, as well as tutoring weekend courses on my own with various community writering groups including Dundee Rep Arts Advocacy and Motherwell’s Biro Babes. I would say without a doubt that during the course of my writing career, the work I have consistently found the most satisfying is with Arvon, as I enjoy having the time to get to know the students through their work, offering encouragement and constructive criticism, ideas for development both in tutorials and within workshops. Over the years I have also tutored and run creative writing workshops with a diversity of organisations: the English Language College, Moscow; John Moore’s University, Liverpool; Strathclyde University; Howden Park Centre; Livingston; Unemployed Worker’s Centre, Kirkby; many local community organisations both in Scotland and the UK and at various literary festivals throughout Europe. I developed, edit, design and administer my own website on which I showcase international new writing and reviews, encouraging and establishing links between writers, publishers and literary magazine editors in Scotland and their counterparts in Malta (for which I was commended by the Maltese cultural organisation, Inizjamed), US, Canada, South Africa, Pakistan, India, China, Alaska, Denmark, Romania, Mexico, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Greece and throughout the rest of the UK. I thrive on discovering and encouraging writing from every genre, age group, opinion and location. Many writers first featured on the site have gone on to have work commissioned in international literary magazines, anthologies and in two recent cases, accepted for publication of their own collections of poetry and short stories. Since its inception just over two years ago, the site has received more than 2 million hits and I am regularly contacted by writers, publishers and editors from all over the world to thank me for the increased interest in their own sites, through exposure on mine. I am in the process of setting up readings and events to help promote the site further, with the hope of one day financing a print edition in which I would feature work both in English and translation. I have also recently edited a number of novels to help finance the site. In 2004 I guest edited three Scottish issues of the Pulp.net writing website, financed by Arts Council England. For this I arranged and run workshops to encourage contributions from emerging writers in Scotland, along with commissioning and interviewing writers already established. Writers featured included AL Kennedy, Anne Donovan, Ali Smith, Alasdair Gray and Louise Welsh. Recent Projects: 28 November 2006 - Co-tutored 1 day Arvon Foundation creative writing course for Highland school teachers at Moniack Mhor - Co-tutor Chris Dolan 23 - 27 October 2006 - Co-tutored Arvon Foundation senior high schools residential creative writing course at Moniack Mhor - Co-tutor John Glenday Other Languages Only currently work in English Fees Negotiable Reference 1 Laura worked with Pulp Net as a guest editor over a period of several months, and subsequently on a live reading. She was highly professional and very conscientious in all the work that she undertook. She also brought an enormous amount of creativity and enthusiasm to the projects. The audience she read to in Newcastle last June were clearly both impressed by her reading and inspired by her presence among them as a role model. Laura Hird is an interesting and respected writer who also cares a lot about contemporary literature and is an excellent advocate for it both through her website and through the live events and teaching she does. I am sure she will make an excellent addition to Artscape. Editor, Pulp Net, London Reference 2 This is a reference for Laura Hird, who has worked as a tutor at Moniack Mhor Writer’s Centre on a regular basis over the last four years. I am one of the centre directors, and I can state unequivocally that Laura is one of our best tutors. Without fail, her student feedback is enthusiastically grateful. She is that rare creature – both an excellent writer and an excellent tutor. She has an un-intimidating presence, and can coax the best work possible from the least confident student. I wish her well in her career. Centre Director The Arvon Foundation, Moniack Mhor Inverness-shire |
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