About

I'm a literary events co-ordinator, project manager, arts administrator and independent publisher from Dunbar, Scotland. I'm passionate about promoting new writers and new work to new audiences. I've worked with literature festivals in Edinburgh, London and Montréal as well as running my own nights of music and words in London. I knows what challenges new writers face and want to get varied, good work out to readers in a fun, physical format. Having lived and worked in many countries including Sweden, Canada, France and Belgium, my posse is fairly spread out and I take great pleasure in gathering and sharing good writing across the globe.

Summary of work

Word-o-Mat is an indie publisher of new, short international writing, plus a zine vending machine. We provide a wordy gateway between Scotland and the rest of the world by gathering submissions from new, international writers and hand-making them into tiny books (zines) 5x7cm. These are then sold in collections - "Word-o-Mat Editions" - from a repurposed, vintage cigarette vending machine based in Glasgow. We publish established and first-time authors in the same place and reach new readers through amazing product and user-experience design. The project was developed in Malmö, Sweden and has ties in Montréal, Canada, Istanbul, Turkey and Madrid, Spain as well as, of course, its home city Glasgow. 

Summary of work to develop

From April, we will be dedicating time to publishing our next Editions and developing a three-year strategy. Our priorities are to form international networks to reach new writers, begin working with translators, form partnerships with literary and arts events, learn more about Arduino technology and programming involved in repurposing the machine and to create at least two more machines to be launched in international venues (Montréal and mainland Europe). 

Contact details

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