Born and brought up in a small village in Thurgau Canton, Switzerland, I studied English and German at the universities of Zurich and Aberdeen (exchange scholarship), then became a Ph.D. student and research assistant at Zurich University. 

My life changed dramatically when I got married to Ron Butlin in 1993: I gave up my job and, together with my first golden retriever, moved to Edinburgh, where I ditched my Ph.D. and started writing fiction. Although my mother tongue is Swiss German, I prefer to write in English. 

I am the author of FIGHTING IT (2009; shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year Award, longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize), THE BEAUTY ROOM (2002; longlisted for the Allen Lane/MIND Book of the Year Award) and INSIDE~OUTSIDE (1998; shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award).

My work has been widely published, also in translation, in literary magazines and anthologies both in Britain and abroad, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.  One of my stories was the Guardian’s Radio Pick of the Day.

My first published story won the Edinburgh Review Tenth Anniversary Short Story Competition. I am a Cadenza prizewinner and have received Bursaries from the Scottish Arts Council, Pro Helvetia/Swiss Arts Council and Thurgau Lottery Foundation as well as a UBS Cultural Foundation Award. 

Ron and I have translated poems for the Scottish Poetry Library, the Goethe-Institut and others. See German Poetry Posters, orte: Brücke nach Edinburgh (Switzerland, 1996), Fife Lines: Poetry from Switzerland (2002), The Night Begins with a Question (Carcanet, 2007).

I have given readings throughout Scotland and abroad, for the British Council and others. I teach creative writing at the National Gallery of Scotland. 

Memberships: Society of Authors, Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz, Scottish PEN (Executive Committee)

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Regi & Leila
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