‘a stunning, visceral talent’, Mslexia

 

Hello and Grüezi

 

I am a Swiss-born novelist, short fiction writer and poet based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I live with my writer husband Ron Butlin and our two golden retrievers. I write in English, not in my mother tongue.

Book publications include two novels – The Waiting, The Beauty Room – and two story collections – Fighting It, Inside~Outside.

Shorts & poems have appeared in Acumen, Ambit, Antigonish Review (Canada), Best British Short Stories, Best New British and Irish Poets, Best Scottish Poems, For Books’ Sake, Forward Book of Poetry, Litro Magazine, Litro Online, Mslexia, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Rialto, Southword (Ireland), New European, Under the Radar, Unthology and numerous other publications in the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA.

Check out this brilliant animation of an extract from my poem ‘(Un)certainties’.

Awards
BOOKS
Inside~Outside was a finalist for Scottish First Book of the Year.
Fighting It was a finalist for Scottish Book of the Year and was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize.
The Beauty Room was longlisted for MIND Book of the Year.
The Waiting received a UBS Cultural Foundation award.
POEMS
‘(Un)certainties‘, my first-ever poem, won 1st prize in the Mslexia/Poetry Book Society Women’s Poetry Competition 2019 and was a finalist for Best Single Poem in the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020.
‘The last woman on earth’ was selected for Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021.
‘Into the hot, dark heart of our world’ was a finalist in the Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition 2021.
‘All my words’ was selected for Best Scottish Poems 2021.
SHORT STORIES
‘Over, all over and beyond’, my first published short story, won 1st prize in the Edinburgh Review 10th Anniversary Short Story Competition.
‘The Tasting’ was selected for Best British Short Stories 2013.
‘When the bikers blow into town’ was a finalist in the Eyelands 9th International Short Story Contest (Greece).

I am a consultant for Waste Stories: making up stuff about rubbish, a 3-year project based at Glasgow University and supported by the Leverhulme Trust. Researchers: Drs Anna Wilson, Hannah Hamilton and Greg Singh. Co-consultant: Ron Butlin.

I am a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh University and run a critical reading group. Pre-pandemic, I taught an art-writing class at Edinburgh City Art Centre and at the National Galleries of Scotland.

I am a former Royal Literary Fund Lector for Reading Round Scotland and a former Royal Literary Fund Fellow.

 

For my joint performances with Ron, please go to McSwiss.

 

You can contact me here.