POETRY
Published by Scotland Street Press in October 2025, this poetry collection on Scotland’s ‘beautiful gemme’ takes a deep dive into our national obsession past and present, its highs and lows, what it means to be a fan and following the story of the author’s grandfather William McKenzie Grant, a part time footballer who served on the Western Front in 1915-16. “A fantastic mix of history, autobiography and biography through the prism of Scottish football,” (Peter MacKay, translator, broadcaster and Scotland’s Makar). Available here Square Baw:
Published by Clydebank Football Club in December 2020 Kilbowie Dreams is a collection of poems charting the fortunes of a Scottish football club over more than fifty years, hailed by noted figures from the literary and footballing world such as Irvine Welsh, Stuart Cosgrove and Sanjeev Kohli it is hoped the book will appeal not only to fans of the ‘Bankies’ but to interested readers and followers of the beautiful game, anywhere. Available from Clydebank Football Club.
Wilson’s Ornithology & Burds in Scots, published by Scotland Street Press March 2020. Featuring poems in Scots alongside the illustrations of Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), a Paisley weaver and Radical who would become the founding father of American Ornithology, with his 9 Volume magnum opus being published 1808-1814. The book features an introduction by Paul Walton, Head of Species and Habitat for RSPB Scotland. Available from scotlandstreetpress.com
Blethertoun Braes: Published by Itchy Coo, 2003. Scots Poems in illustrated anthology of bairns’ verse. Blethertoun is a fictional Scottish town peopled by a comic cast of eccentric worthies who move through it Mornin, Noon and Nicht. Edited by Matthew Fitt and James Robertson.
Blethertoun Braes, meeting Nae Fizz Izzy, Clatty Wattie, some kirkyaird epitaphs and The Hauntit Park was a sequel to the highly popular King o the Midden.
Listen to a poem from Blethertoun Braes:
King o the Midden: published by Itchy Coo, 2002.
Scots poems in illustrated anthology of bairns’ verse. King o the Midden – Manky Mingin Rhymes in Scots, was shortlisted for the Scottish Arts Council’s Children’s Book of the Year Award 2002.
Listen to a poem from King o the Midden:
Skeleton – stories in verse & prose. Clydeside Press, 1995 A collection of stories and poems from dark discoveries in the Kilpatrick Hills to night buses in America, giving a flavour of the urban and the wild Skeleton features a modern parody of one of Scotland’s best known anti-heroes, Tam O Shanter. No longer available.
FICTION
The Gravy Star: published by 11:9, 2001. A novel which begins at the outset of the millennium, The Gravy Star follows the privations of Farchar MacNab who exists in a derelict railway station below the streets of Glasgow. Farchar sets out on an odyssey to come to terms with his past and reclaim some kind of future.
…presented with brio and humour and tempered with some wonderfully lyrical passages – Sunday Herald …a powerfully evocative and compellingly constructed tale – The List …a fizzing debut – Highland News …it was Hamish MacDonald’s The Gravy Star … which best epitomised the future of Scottish writing – The Scotsman at the 2001 Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Girnin Gates/Double Heider: published by Itchy Coo, 2003
A teenage novella in Scots. Young Gilbert MacGlinchy may have been born with the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he uses his vivid imagination to survive. Through a series of family disasters and narrow escapes, he makes a hilarious and moving journey from Glasgow and Clydebank to the glamour and excitement of the Cannes Film Festival.
Double-header is jist that – a twa-heidit book wi twa stories inside it. Turn it tapsalteerie tae read Loon by Sheena Blackhall.
‘Two vibrant hard hitting stories, The Girnin Gates and Loon are written in two different dialects of Scots Glaswegian and Doric by two of Scotland’s finest writers. And Double Heider, a Scottish publishing first, demonstrates clearly that in language and in society there is more that unites us than divides us.’ (Scottish Book Trust – Books from Scotland)
….a braw wee treat in oor ain language …Dumfries and Galloway Standard
Available from Amazon Listen to an excerpt from The Girnin Gates:
Pure Ghosters, published by Itchy Coo, 2002. Short story: The Street wi Fish an the Auld Singing Tramp in a vibrant anthology of the various dialects of Scotland by 10 of its finest contemporary writers.
Each tale is a ghost story set in recent times, from the inner city to the remoter regions of Scotland.
Listen to an excerpt from The Street wi Fish an the Auld Singing Tramp in Pure Ghosters: