Guest Speakers & Adjudicators 2025/26

Guest Speakers & Adjudicators 2026/27

Over the course of the year, invited Guest Speakers will visit Ayr Writers’ Club to talk about their writing routines, their working methods, and their publications.

There will be an open Question & Answer session in the latter half of the evening, an opportunity to delve a little deeper into a professional writer’s thoughts and working practices.

Many of our guest speakers also adjudicate entries for the club’s writing competitions related to their specialist field, offering clear and constructive feedback on the work submitted. Their expertise is greatly appreciated and provides our members with valuable guidance and fresh perspectives as they continue to develop their craft.

9th Sep 2026 – Anne Hamilton – Guest Speaker and Adjudicator

Anne is an author, and a freelance editor, mentor and creative writing tutor, based in Edinburgh. Her travel memoir, A Blonde Bengali Wife (2010) launched her writing career and inspired the charity Bhola’s Children. Her first novel, The Almost Truth, (2024) won the Irish Writers Centre International Debut Novel Competition. Her second, Letters From Elena, (2025) was listed for the Lucy Cavendish Prize. She is also one-fifth of the collaborative novelist team, Gill Merton, Entitled (2023).

Anne has received writing awards from Creative Scotland and the Arts Council of Ireland. She works for the Open University, Cambridge University, and most recently has presented at the Edinburgh international Book Festival, Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference.

Anne is currently working on her third novel.

4th November 2026 – Conner McAleese – Guest Speaker and Adjudicator

Conner McAleese is a Scottish writer published across the UK, Canada, and the US. His speculative fiction explores familial decay, identity, place, and religion. His debut novel, The Goose Mistress (2018), explores Eva Braun’s descent into madness during WW2. He holds a PhD in English Literature on post-9/11 American horror literature.

25th November 2026 – John Binnie – Guest Speaker and Adjudicator

John Binnie is a playwright and director, who has worked in theatre since 1986. He set up Glasgow’s Clyde Unity Theatre with friends, and wrote and directed over 30 productions that toured all over Scotland, and beyond. He’s been fortunate to make theatre in America, Germany, Singapore, Africa and India.

Three of his plays BEYOND THE RAINBOW, ACCUSTOMED TO HER FACE and BREAKFAST AT AUDREY’S won Edinburgh Fringe Firsts. A LITTLE OLDER won the Independent Theatre award. BEYOND THE RAINBOW and SUMMER SECTIONED have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He’s adapted the novels BREADMAKERS and RAG WOMAN, RICH WOMAN by Margaret Thomson Davis for the stage, as well as BABYCAKES by Armistead Maupin. He has just workshopped a new musical with Richard Lewis, LAFAYETTE at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. His musical A TOAST FAE THE LASSIES about the women in Rabbie Burns’ life sold out at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 2025 and will go out on tour this coming January.

All of John’s work is rooted in community engagement. Currently he is an Artist in Community for Glasgow Life. He believes everyone has a story to tell, and his drama/writing classes encourage people to find their voice, develop their confidence and creativity, and contribute to community.

24th February 2027- Alan Dapré – Guest Speaker

Alan Dapré is an experienced children’s author of 63 books. His plays have been on BBC Radio and published for use in schools. A former TV scriptwriter, whose work was BAFTA nominated, Alan often invents imaginative stories and poetry while walking his rascally rescue dog, Max.

Alan spent his childhood in the care system, within turbulent children’s homes and fostering environments. Books opened up exciting new worlds that took him out of his surroundings. Alan was often seen in his local library, nestled among the cushions.

Alan regularly appear at book festivals, libraries and schools, where he delivers lively interactive events; drawing from his popular published books, or his childhood experiences in Care.’

Guest Adjudicator:

Catherine Ogston – Flash Fiction

Catherine writes flash fiction, short stories and longer YA fiction. Flash pieces have been published with Bath Flash, Flash 500, the National Flash Fiction Day anthologies, The Phare, Best Microfiction 2025 and others. Shortlisted twice for the Bridport Flash prize, nominated for a Pushcart Prize and recently Highly Commended in the Fish Flash contest.

30 Sep 2026 – Scott and Lawson – Guest Speaker

Scott and Lawson is a Scottish publishing house based in Dundee and owned by Wendy H. Jones who is the senior editor. They publish crime fiction, humorous mysteries, non fiction and cozy mystery anthologies. Chapter Books will also be added to the offering in the near future. Their magazine offerings include Writers’ Narrative, a free online magazine for writers and the former Mom’s Favourite Reads, a magazine for women. Scott and Lawson publishes authors form a broad range of backgrounds worldwide.

14th October 2026 – Isi Nimmo – Guest Speaker

Isi trained at RADA and is celebrating 50

years as a theatre practitioner. Her first job after leaving drama school was working for Sir Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in Scarborough.

This was a temple to new writing and Alan Ayckbourn’s programming showcased not only his own work, but established writers new works as well as up and coming talent.

Working in all genres of theatre Isi has worked in all departments of theatre production eventually leading to her first love of Directing.

In recent years she has specialised in one man productions working alongside Ken O’Hara in his MAD theatre productions touring rural Ayrshire venues as well as in theatres such as Gaiety Theatre Studio and Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine. She also produces independently as Rymple Productions, most recently working with Tracy Ann Harvey from Ayr Writers’ Club.

13th January 2027 – Laurie Donaldson – Guest Speaker and Adjudicator

Laurie Donaldson is a poet and educator. He is president of Greenock Writers’ Club, a trustee for the Federation of Writers (Scotland), a charity promoting writing and the arts across Scotland, on the management committee of Lapidus Scotland, which supports creative writing for wellbeing, and Editor of the Inverclyde-based arts magazine Fun Lovin Liminals. He has had poems published in Dreich, Blue Bottle Journal, SHINE international poetry series, Cold Moon Journal, BRAG Writers Literary Magazine, Green Ink Poetry, Ink in Thirds, Power Cut, Littoral, Creatives (Scottish Mountaineering Press), The Candyman’s Trumpet, what3stories, the Primo Poetica Collection, and numerous magazines, anthologies, and zines. He also runs creative writing and poetry workshops, regularly appears at open mics, and reviews new poetry.

3rd February 2027 – Wendy H. Jones – Guest Speaker

Wendy H. Jones is the multi-award-winning, best-selling, Scottish author of adult crime thrillers and cozy mysteries, children’s picture books, Young Adult mysteries and non-fiction books for writers. In addition she is a writing coach, editor in chief of Writers’Narrative eMagazine and hosts the Writing and Marketing Show podcast which can be found on all podcast platforms. She also hosts Write and Publish with Wendy H. Jones on Substack. She is currently writing a series of books based on the true story of a Scottish Naval Surgeon in the 19th Century, and The Adventures of Freya and Ragnar chapter books for children aged 6-8. She is often found travelling around the world writing, doing book signings and public speaking.

21st April 2027- Al Guthrie – Guest Speaker

Allan Guthre has worked in various roles in the publishing industry for over twenty years. He’s the author of five crime novels, including the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year winner TWO-WAY SPLIT and the Edgar-nominated KISS HER GOODBYE. After twelve years as a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates, he co-founded the North Literary Agency in 2017. He is also the Editorial Director of NeoText, a US publishing company focussed on short fiction and long-form journalism pieces designed to launch film and TV opportunities.

Guest Adjudicator:

Ann Burnett – Book Review

Joining Ayr Writers’ Club in 1979 was one of the best things I ever did. It kickstarted a career which encompassed Postman Pat, the Moomins, scriptwriting for the BBC, short stories, articles and novels and which still continues over 40 years later.
My latest book is A Last Journey, a memoir of my husband Bill, and his struggles with Lewy Body dementia. I write a column, Hidden Lives, for the Festival Theatre’s DementiArts magazine on people with dementia and recently, I have had an article in East Lothian Life on the Lothian Players.
I’ve adjudicated at SAW as well as here at the club and it’s with great pleasure I’m doing it again!

Guest Adjudicator:

Nigel Ward – Article

Mountains and the outdoors form the backdrop to much of Nigel‘s travel writing and a blog recording his Munro journey. In addition, articles about local and family history, and various heritage settings, have appeared alongside prize-winning short stories, flash fiction and book reviews. Exploring a creative outlet after a career writing bureaucratic local authority reports, he’s even dabbled with poetry but accepts that this is not really his bag. A former President of Ayr Writers’ Club, he is now active with Eastwood Writers, having moved north a few years ago.

Guest Adjudicator:

David McVey – Scottish Article

David McVey lectures in Humanities at New College Lanarkshire. He has published over 150 short stories and hundreds of items of non-fiction, many of them focusing on history and the outdoors. He enjoys hillwalking, visiting historic sites, reading, watching telly, and supporting his home-town football team, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy FC.

Guest Adjudicator:

Chris Longmuir – General Short Story

Chris Longmuir is an award-winning novelist. Two of her books in the Dundee Crime Series won major awards. The most prestigious award was for Dead Wood which won the Dundee International Book Prize. Since then, Chris has published the Dundee Crime Series, The Kirsty Campbell Mysteries, the first book in a new Suffragette Mystery Series, a historical saga as well as two non-fiction books. Readers have described her crime thrillers as scary and atmospheric page-turners. However, her historical novels are a mite less scary, although still full of suspense. Chris lives in the county of Angus in Scotland. It’s midway between Aberdeen and Dundee and she uses this area for background in her historical saga. She is an Open University graduate with a postgraduate qualification in Social Work plus a qualification in criminology.

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"You can make anything by writing" CS Lewis

Guest Speakers & Adjudicators 2026/27