Read All About It

Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of The Last Act of Love and A Manual for Heartache and most recently Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books, which is published by Picador and came out in September 2020.She speaks and writes regularly on life, death, love, literature, literacy and mental health, and is often to be found doing bookish events at festivals, in shops and libraries, and in prisons. In previous lives Cathy worked for The Bookseller, The Reading Agency, Quick Reads, Waterstones and The Bell & Crown Inn. Despite her books being shortlisted for various prizes, the only thing Cathy has ever won is the Snaith and District Ladies Darts Championship when she was 17. She is now sadly out of practice.

Alison Irvine is a writer whose debut novel, This Road Is Red, was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. Her latest novel, Cat Step, will be published in November 2020 by Dead Ink Books.She also works collaboratively as part of Recollective, with photographer, Chris Leslie, and artist, Mitch Miller, and their project, Nothing Is Lost, recorded the impact of the 2014 Commonwealth Games on residents in Glasgow's East End. Among other projects is Barrowlands Ballads - telling the untold stories on the iconic venue in Glasgow's Gallowgate.

Doug Johnstone is a writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. His twelfth novel, The Big Chill, was published by Orenda Books in August 2020. His previous novel, A Dark Matter, was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. His other books include Breakers and The Jump, Gone Again and Hit & Run.Doug has been Writer in Residence with William Purves Funeral Directors. He is also a Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow, and was RLF Fellow at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh 2014-2016. Doug was also Writer in Residence at the University of Strathclyde 2010-2012 and before that worked as a lecturer in creative writing there. He’s had short stories appear in various publications and anthologies, and since 1999 he has worked as a freelance arts journalist, primarily covering music and literature. Doug has a degree in physics, a PhD in nuclear physics and a diploma in journalism.Doug is one of the co-founders of the Scotland Writers Football Club, for whom he also puts in a shift in midfield as player-manager. He is also a singer, musician and songwriter, with three solo EPs and five albums in various bands to his name. He plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a crime writing supergroup featuring Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste.