A WRITER from the region has won a prestigious fellowship.
Kris Haddow, who is from Kirkconnel, has a place on the sixth cohort of the Ignite Fellows, run by the Scottish Book Trust.
The scheme supports established writers working on a significant project and Kris, who now lives in Glasgow, will get a £2000 bursary and creative support tailored to suit his individual projects.
A graduate of University of Glasgow’s MLitt Creative Writing programme, he writes plays, poems, and prose in Scots, with recent work appearing in Gutter Magazine and New Writing Scotland.
Kris has carried out research on the Scots dialect in publishing and is currently writing his first novel, When the Curlew Cries No More, which won the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival’s Pitch Perfect event in 2021.
He said: ‘I feel truly honoured to have been awarded an Ignite Fellowship, and can only describe myself as ‘chuffed tae the gunnies’ when I received the call from Scottish Book Trust. Their support will be invaluable as I endeavour to complete and edit my novel set in rural South West Scotland, which entwines local language and landscape to bring the Scots dialect, people, and place to life.’
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: ‘Congratulations to our three new Ignite Fellows, who are very deserving of this award. The Ignite Fellowship provides writers with essential mentoring, financial assistance and practical support that will help them reach new heights in their careers. We’re thrilled to support these writers on their next chapters, and look forward to seeing how their projects progress.”
