Ignite Fellows 2025

Recognising the achievements of talented professional authors, the Ignite Fellowship offers practical and financial support for exploring new avenues or making new breakthroughs. Meet our 2025 Fellows, Carol Farrelly and Katie Goh, and our Gaelic Fellow Seonaidh Charity below, or find out more about our previous Ignite Fellows.

Carol Farrelly

Carol Farrelly is a fiction writer from Glasgow. Her short stories have appeared in journals such as Granta, Stand and New Writing Scotland, and have been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. In 2021, her story ‘Turnstones’ won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Canada & Europe region. She has been shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ Tom-Gallon Trust Award, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, the Bridport Prize and the Alpine Fellowship. She is a previous Scottish Book Trust New Writer and Robert Louis Stevenson Fellow. Carol holds a DPhil on Thomas Hardy’s fiction and is a graduate of the University of Glasgow’s MLitt Creative Writing programme.

Carol's project:

Carol will be working on a novel which travels from Dublin to Dumfries and Galloway.

Carol says:

'I am thrilled to receive an Ignite Fellowship: it's such a gift. I cannot thank Scottish Book Trust enough for giving me the resources and support to focus on my work. Let the new year begin!'

Katie Goh

Katie Goh is a writer and editor. Katie's award-nominated essays, journalism and criticism have appeared in publications including Port, The Guardian, Wasafiri, i-D, Dazed and gal-dem, and she is an editor for Extra Teeth and Gutter magazines. Katie is the author of The End: Surviving the World Through Imagined Disasters, which was shortlisted for the inaugural Kavya Prize in 2022, and Foreign Fruit, their debut memoir, which will be published by Canongate in 2025. Katie grew up in the north of Ireland and now lives in Edinburgh.

Katie's project:

Katie will be working on a creative nonfiction project.

Katie says:

'I am delighted and honoured to be the recipient of an Ignite Fellowship. The Fellowship will support a creative non-fiction project, and I am grateful to Scottish Book Trust for this opportunity to further develop my writing as I take the plunge with a new book.'

Seonaidh Charity

'S e tidsear àrd-sgoil a th' ann an Seonaidh Charity. ’S ann à Loch Bhraoin a tha e ach tha e a’ fuireach san Eilean Dubh. Chaidh a' chiad nobhail aige An Làmh a Bheir fhoillseachadh san t-sreath 'Lasag' (Sandstone Press). Chaidh na sgeulachdan goirid aige fhoillseachadh ann an irisean leithid danamag, Northwords Now agus 404 Ink. Bhuainnich e Duais Bàrdachd Bhaile na h-Ùige ann an 2023 agus Duais Làmh-Sgrìobhainn As Fheàrr do dh'Inbhich aig Na Duaisean Litreachais 2024.

Translation

Seonaidh Charity is a secondary school teacher who works in Inverness. He is originally from Lochbroom but now lives on the Black Isle. His first novel An Làmh a Bheir was published as part of the 'Lasag' series (Sandstone Press). Seonaidh has had short stories published in danamag, Northwords Now and 404 Ink. He won the Wigtown Gaelic Poetry Prize in 2023 and Best Unpublished Manuscript for Adults at the Gaelic Literature Awards 2024.

Seonaidh's project:

Seonaidh will be working towards a poetry collection about his local area, its people and the landscape.

Seonaidh says:

''S e fìor urram a th' ann an duais seo fhaighinn. Tha cothrom sònraichte air thoiseach orm agus mo thaing dha Comhairle nan Leabhraichean is Urras Leabhraichean na h-Alba airson a bhuileachadh orm.'

Translation

'Receiving this award is a real honour. I have been presented with a fantastic opportunity and I am grateful to the Gaelic Books Council and Scottish Book Trust for this.'

Ignite Fellowship 2025 shortlist

The panel would also like to offer their congratulations to the following shortlisted writers:

• Genevieve Carver
• Charlotte Haley