Writers’ awards are announced

SCOTTISH Book Trust has revealed the inaugural Ignite Fellowship award winners.

Theatre-maker Annie George and poet Marjorie Lotfi Gill were selected by the judging panel.

Ms George is based in Portobello and her recent plays include Edinburgh Fringe productions Twa, Home Is Not The Place and The Bridge.

For her Ignite Fellowship project, she will work on a screenplay, a wartime spy drama based on a true story.

Ms Gill’s poems have won competitions, been published widely in journals and anthologies in the UK and US, including The Rialto, Magma, Rattle and Gutter, and have been performed on Radio 4.

Her pamphlet Refuge, poems about her childhood in revolutionary Iran, was published by Tapsalteerie Press this year.

She founded the Belonging Project, creative writing workshops and readings considering the experiences of refugees, with more than 1,500 participants.

The writer plans to use the Ignite Fellowship to explore the process of assimilation into a new culture.

An additional Gaelic Ignite Fellowship, funded by the Gaelic Books Council, will be announced in 2019.

The Ignite Fellows will receive a £2,000 bursary and tailored creative support to suit their individual projects. The fellowship will run for one year, from this month to December 2019. www.scottishbooktrust.com