I am Kirsty… fa kens fit else
I am from Aberdeenshire and a graduate of The University of Aberdeen, completing both an MA in English and Scottish Literature (1st) and an MLitt in Creative Writing (with distinction). I also paint, with no training or expertise, just eagerness.
I write very short things, short poems, short stories, because I like everything to be precise and concise. I paint very bright things with heavy lines and bold texture because I like to see the painting and what is happening on the canvas.
If you enjoy anything you find on this site please share it and let me know.
What I do:
In the past I have worked on make-up counters, in a care home, and as a tour guide in a historic building. Now I am working on the upcoming WayWORD Festival and freelance in promoting local arts and culture. I have just graduated from my MLitt course, writing a dissertation on community responses to trauma and grief.
In 2019 I was a founding member of the WayWORD Festival working specifically on the ‘Doric Performers Meet Scotland the What?’ and ‘Untold Stories Walking Tour with Aberdeen Women’s Alliance’ events. I was part of the team devising the concept for the festival, the final events list, and the running of the festival, from the organic marketing, to ‘The Green Zoom’ our online post-event aftercare. The resulting festival in September 2020 is my proudest achievement. Since then I have continued working for the festival, recruiting the new committees, leading the marketing team, and chairing more events (see below!)
I’ve published heaps of stuff with Leopard Arts because I just like to be read – fortunately for them I am not the only one and they have a whole host of great stuff so check them out. In August 2021 they asked me to join their team as co-editor and it’s been great!
For work I do all sorts: I work supporting The WORD Centre activities at The University of Aberdeen, including events, marketing, and admin; I offer freelance content management & organic marketing for small businesses; I have been a tour guide since 2015, most recently covering Aberdeen City centre for American tour groups; and I am part of an art collective, Outlines, and we facilitate spray-paint workshops and murals in Aberdeen.
What I like:
I like reading Scottish Lit. like Muriel Spark, Leila Aboulela, Lewis Grassic Gibbon. I like poems by Tom Leonard and John Donne. When I visit art galleries I am drawn to portraits by Raeburn and Ramsay, as well as very bright and painterly pieces.
I recently saw an exhibition of work by Charles H Mackie and I loved every second of it – so varied, so bright, so technical and obvious. I am also obsessed with this piece in Aberdeen Art Gallery by Gilbert & George because it is so vibrant and dramatic.
My writing in other places:
Onions is a memoir piece about school over on the Leopard Arts site, one of my favourite places for Aberdeen Creatives. Leopard Arts also hosts my ghost story The Brownie of Blackford Manor, my short poem Phocidae in their BRACE! BRACE! collection, and my history ditty about capital punishment in Aberdeen Picnicing on a Little Hillie was part of their super Paper exhibition.
In 2019 I was awarded the Bobby Aitken Memorial Prize for my doric poem The Ballad of John Leith III by The University of Aberdeen.
Kirsty Lawie 