Scottish Narratives Panel

Juano Diaz Author

Juano Diaz lives with his partner, David and their adopted son. He is a successful and internationally acclaimed artist and collaborates with many others including Pierre et Giles and Grace Jones. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the world including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Juano is currently working with film director Sophie Fiennes. https://www.juanodiaz.com/about-me

Margaret McDonald Author

Margaret McDonald is a Scottish author from Glasgow. She is published in the disability-focused magazine Breath and Shadow as well as the prose and poetry magazines Bandit Fiction, Bubble Lit, In Parentheses, and The Manifest Station. Margaret worked for the NHS after shielding for a year, during which time she finished her Masters in English literature from Glasgow University with Distinction. She also has a First Class BA (Hons) from Strathclyde University, where she studied writing.

Tom Newlands Author

Tom Newlands is a neurodivergent Scottish author living in London. He is the winner of a London Writer’s Award and a Creative Future Writer’s Award. In 2021 he was selected for New Writing North’s ‘A Writing Chance,’ which aimed to showcase the most talented writers in the UK from under-represented backgrounds. Only Here, Only Now is his first novel.

Vikki Reilly Chair

Vikki Reilly has worked in bookselling and publishing for twenty years. She was struck down by Beatlemania, thanks to her best friend's big brother's record collection and a C-90 cassette, when she was thirteen years old and hasn't been the same since. As a student, she got a job in Virgin Megastore by discussing Ringo Starr's backward fills, and – later in life – only managed the last fifteen miles of the West Highland Way by singing the Beatles back catalogue in chronological order. This is her first book.