New Debut Lab launched to support Scottish authors

Nine Edinburgh writers selected for new initiative

Scottish Book Trust has unveiled a new initiative to support writers based in Scotland whose debut, full-length work in poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction was published after December 2019 and impacted by the pandemic. Debut Lab is funded by, and a collaboration with, Creative Scotland.

Delivered remotely through a series of seven live-on-Zoom workshops and a range of additional online resources, Debut Lab will support writers affected by the pandemic during this transitional stage in their careers.

Workshops will include networking, marketing, author events and funding opportunities, and will be led by industry professionals including Mairi Oliver, owner of Lighthouse Bookshop, and writers Maisie Chan and Helen Sedgwick, as well as Creative Scotland’s Literature Team and Scottish Book Trust staff.

Nine writers based in Edinburgh have been selected for Debut Lab, including:

• Amy B. Moreno, whose debut picture book, A Billion Balloons of Questions (Floris) will be published in June 2022
• Caron McKinlay, whose debut novel The Storytellers (Bloodhound Books) will be published in May 2022
• Charlie Roy, whose debut novel The Broken Pane (Leamington Books) was published in 2021
• Flora Johnston, whose debut novel What You Call Free (Ringwood Publishing) was published in March 2021
• Helen Boden, whose debut poetry collection A Landscape to Figure In (Red Squirrel Press) was published in November 2021
• Kirsti Wishart, whose debut novel, The Knitting Station (Rymour Books) was published in March 2021
• Lauren Pope, whose debut poetry collection, Always Erase (Blue Diode Press) was published in January 2022
• Niamh Hargan, whose debut novel Twelve Days in May (HarperFiction) will be published in April 2022
• Ry Herman, whose debut novel Love Bites (Quercus Publishing) was published in July 2020

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust said: “Scottish Book Trust is pleased to support eighteen authors through our new initiative, Debut Lab.

“Being a debut author is daunting enough, but the pandemic and following lockdown made it incredibly difficult for authors to promote their work.

“We hope to shine a light on this fantastic range of books, from children’s novels to collections of poetry. Our thanks to Creative Scotland for making this possible and allowing us to give essential support to this cohort.”

Katalina Watt, Literature Officer at Creative Scotland said: ““Creative Scotland is so pleased to be working with Scottish Book Trust on this vital initiative for debut authors impacted by the pandemic.

“Through a series of live online workshops and additional resources led and facilitated by industry professionals, Debut Lab will highlight the wonderful variety of works and support these authors in the next exciting steps of their author journeys.”