Gordon Lawrie

For many years, my writing experience was limited to academic papers and a little journalism. Since 2012, however, I’ve published four novels and a collection of short stories, in genres ranging from crime to spy and romantic comedy. Some of my work features original music, which I sometimes perform at author events ranging from small groups through to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

In 2012, I founded a self-publishing collective of Edinburgh writers, which gave me extensive insight into the book business – publishers, agents, and booksellers, as well as writers. In 2020, I published a cheap but extensive guide to self-publishing which could accompany any workshop.

I’m perhaps most widely known as editor of Friday Flash Fiction, which each week publishes very short fiction submitted from around the world. It’s great to watch writers take their first baby steps, then progress to more ambitious work. I used to be a teacher; it pushes those same ‘enabling’ buttons.