‘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 golden retriever. 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, Edinburgh Review, For Books’ Sake, Forward Book of Poetry, Litro Magazine, Litro Online, Mslexia,  New European, New Writing Scotland, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Rialto, Southword (Ireland), Stand (UK & USA), 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: Scottish First Book of the Year (finalist)
Fighting It: Scottish Book of the Year (finalist), Edge Hill Prize (longlisted)
The Beauty Room: MIND Book of the Year (longlisted)
The Waiting: UBS Cultural Foundation award
POEMS
‘(Un)certainties‘, my first poem: Mslexia/PBS Women’s Poetry Competition 2019 (1st prize), Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020, Best Single Poem (finalist)
‘The last woman on earth’: Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021
‘Into the hot, dark heart of our world’: Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition 2021 (finalist)
‘All my words’: Best Scottish Poems 2021
SHORT STORIES
‘Over, all over and beyond’, my first published short story: Edinburgh Review 10th Anniversary Short Story Competition (1st prize)
‘The Tasting’: Best British Short Stories 2013
‘When the bikers blow into town’: Eyelands 9th International Short Story Contest (finalist)

I am a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh University and run a private 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 consultant for Waste Stories: making up stuff about rubbish, an environmental project based at Glasgow University and supported by the Leverhulme Trust (2021-2024).

I am a former Royal Literary Fund Lector for Reading Round Scotland (2015-2017) and a former Royal Literary Fund Fellow (2012-2015)

 

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

 

You can contact me here.