51cg

Biography

Shane Strachan is a Lecturer in Creative Writing. He received a PhD in Creative Writing from the 51cg in 2015. He is a writer and performer who works across creative disciplines to explore stories connecting the Northeast of Scotland to the wider world, often in North East Scots (Doric).

He is the co-editor of (Bloomsbury, 2026) which explores the life and legacy of the Aberdeenshire-born fashion designer, and includes poems Strachan wrote as part of his spoken-word podcast and exhibition,The Bill Gibb Line, displayed at Aberdeen Art Gallery across 2020-2021.

His poetry book, , was published by Tapsalteerie in April 2024 with support from the the Scots Language Publication Grant (Scottish Book Trust; Scottish Government). It went on to be shortlisted for Best Scots Book at the 2024 Scots Language Awards, and longlisted for Best Poetry Book at the 2024 Saltire Awards.

He was the National Library of Scotland's 2022-2023 , through which he created new work in line with his research interests in Scots, oral tradition and reimagining archival material and verbatim.

Other works include Nevertheless: Sparkian Tales in Bulawayo (amaBooks), a novella inspired by Muriel Spark's time in southern Africa, multidisciplinary theatre projects The Shelter and Granite (National Theatre of Scotland), and the spoken-word installation, DREEPIN (Fertile Ground), reflecting on Aberdeen's relationship with oil and gas.

His stories and poems have appeared in New Writing Scotland, Gutter, Northwords Now, Stand and many more national publications. He has presented and performed work on BBC Radio 4, and also performed live for Edinburgh International Book Festival, Polari Literary Salon, Granite Noir, WayWORD and more.

Internal Memberships

Director of the university's

Member of: the UoA Interdisciplinary Institute; the Environmental Arts & Humanities Network; and the WORD Centre for Creative Writing

Prizes and Awards

Winner:

2026 McLellan Scots Poetry Prize

UoA Excellence Awards 2026 for Public Engagement with Research (Early Career Researcher)

2024 McCash Poetry Prize for Scots poetry for 'The Last Ride'

Loud Poets North Slam Champion 2024 and national Grand Slam finalist

Scots Champion, Scots Language Awards 2023

Best Scottish Poems 2022, Scottish Poetry Library for

Highly Commended in the 2026 Forward Prizes for Poetry

Longlisted for Best Poetry Book at the 2024 Saltire Awards – Scotland's National Book Awards

Shortlisted:

• 2025 Rencontres d'Arles Photo-Text Book Award (for Let the World Adore You)
• Best Rising Scottish Author at the 2024 The List Edinburgh Festival Awards
• Scots Book o the Year for DWAMS at the 2024 Scots Language Awards
• Scots Media Person o the Year at the 2023 Scots Language Awards
• Scots Writer of the Year at the 2020 Scots Language Awards
• Ross Roy Medal for Best Scottish Literary PhD at the 2015 Saltire Literary Awards.

Awarded:

National Library of Scotland's Scots Scriever Residency (2022-2023), Creative Scotland

Nesta Alternarratives Awardee

Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, Scottish Book Trust

Muriel Spark 100 Grant, Creative Scotland

Research Overview

My research takes the form of original writing across various forms including prose fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, theatre, spoken word and creative translations (into Scots), as well as multi-artform collaborations.

You can view my previous publications under 'Past Research' below or via the 'Publications' tab above.

Current Research

I am currently open to supervision enquiries for PhDs in Creative Writing.

My research interests for PhD supervision include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• creative writing in any dialect of Scots and/or non-standard dialects of English, particularly projects which engage with the oral tradition
• queer writing and/or other minority voices, particularly projects engaging with real-life figures
• interdisciplinary projects engaging with other creative disciplines (e.g. visual art, performance, music)
• writing that creatively incorporates verbatim and/or archival material

Past Research

Book publications:

Refashioning Bill Gibb for the 21st Century, co-edited with Josephine Steed (Bloomsbury, 2026)

Contributor to Let the World Adore You (Photo-Book) by Lisa Brunzell (ICVL, 2025)

DWAMS (Tapsalteerie, 2024)

Nevertheless: Sparkian Tales in Bulawayo (amaBooks, 2018)

Passages, Editor (Edition Vulpes, 2015)

View more of my publications via the tab above.