New Writers Award for author Karen

Karen Ashe

An Airdrie author enjoyed a dream start to her budding writing career by picking up a prestigious industry prize.

Karen Ashe, who attends a creative writing class at Chryston Cultural Centre, has been presented with the 2016 Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award.

She submitted her story, The Disappeared Girl, for the top award and got the inspiration for it from a photograph of a small girl standing at the foot of a giant redwood tree on Pinterest, which she often uses for finding inspiration.

Karen Ashe, who was brought up in Airdrie and now lives in Glasgow, said: “I was absolutely thrilled to be given a New Writer’s Award this year.

“I worked really hard on the story, and the Book Trust is an excellent organisation to be involved in.

“I try to write every morning, and my favourite place to do this is the library at the bridge in Easterhouse.”

Karen completed the MLitt in Creative Writing course at Glasgow University and now spends her Monday evenings in the inspiring company of the Chryston Writer’s Group.

She has been attending the class for two years and in this time has learned “a lot about different types of poetry styles and different genres of writing, such as postcolonial writing”, having previously been unfamiliar with some of the techniques.

Karen added: “We are very lucky at the Chryston Writer’s Group to have an extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic tutor in Catherine Baird.

“The group opens me up to new things that I might have otherwise been reluctant to attempt, in an atmosphere that is relaxed and nonjudgemental.”

The creative writing group at Chryston Cultural Centre runs every Monday from 6.30pm to 8pm and is open to everyone aged 16 and over.

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