LIZ NIVEN

Liz Niven is a poet and writer in both English and Scots.  She was educated at Glasgow University and Jordanhill College of Education, subsequently living in Easter Ross for ten years, and for 18 years in Newton Stewart, Galloway.

As a teacher, she has had a strong interest in Scots language in education, recognising that many Scots-speaking children and families are denied their right to speak, and be respected for using, their native tongue. She has been Scots Language Development Officer for Dumfries and Galloway Education Department and Writer-in-Residence for Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association.

Her poetry has been published in most major Scottish magazines, as well as along the River Cree in Galloway, in a commissioned collaboration with sculptors and wood-carvers.

Her poetry collections include Cree Lines (2000), Stravaigin (2001) and Burning Whins and Other Poems (2004), and The Shard Box (2010).

Liz is chair of Scottish PEN's Writers in Exile Committee and recently co-edited their 90th anniversary anthology of work by Scottish PEN members and immigrant writers, I'm Coming With You.

​