Alan Bissett is the author of the novels Boyracers, The Incredible Adam Spark and, most recently, Death of a Ladies’ Man. His plays include Turbo Folk, The Ching Room, and his own ‘one-woman show’, The Moira Monologues, which is toured Scotland throughout 2010 and is published on Cargo Crate.

An award-winning short story writer, novelist, poet, and travel writer. Her first two novels The Glass House and Under The Mountain are published by Random House in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. She currently lives in Edinburgh.

Nora Chassler grew up in NYC. She now lives in Dundee with her nine year-old daughter, her partner, and her young poodle. Her first novel, Miss Thing, was published in January 2010. She is finishing her second, Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space.

Born in Dundee, Scotland but grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. His first novel, Choke Chain, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2009. He lives in Switzerland.

Andrew Raymond Drennan is the author of Cancer Party and the forthcoming 2011 novel The Immaculate Heart. He lives in Paisley, Scotland.

Born in 1978, grew up in England and has mostly lived in Scotland since 1997. His first novel No Fireworks (Faber & Faber, 2005) was nominated for four awards. This was followed by a second novel Hope for Newborns (Faber & Faber, 2008) and soon after by Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography (Bloomsbury, 2008) which won the Somerset Maugham Award for Non-Fiction 2009.

Winner of the 2008 SAC New Writers Award, and has been published in Gutter Magazine, New Writing Scotland and the EIBF anthology, Elsewhere. She has performed her work at Connect Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and on BBC Radio Scotland, and co-runs performance event Words Per Minute. As a journalist, she writes for The Scotsman, The Herald, The Independent and The List.

A writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. He’s had two novels published by Penguin, Tombstoning and The Ossians. His next novel, Smokeheads, will be published by Faber in 2011. Doug is in several bands including Northern Alliance, who have released four critically acclaimed albums.

Raised in Bulgaria and emigrated to New Zealand as a teenager. Her memoir Street Without a Name (Portobello 2008) was short-listed for the Dolman Travel Club award and Le Prix du Livre Européen. Her poetry is published by Bloodaxe. Kapka is Royal Literary Fellow at Strathclyde University.

Helen Lynch has two daughters and lives in Aberdeen, where she teaches Medieval Literature at the University and plays in all-girl ceilidh band Danse McCabre. The Elephant and the Polish Question, a collection of interlinked short stories set during the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, was published by Bluechrome in 2009.

Micaela Maftei lives in Glasgow and is currently finishing a PhD in Creative Writing.

Anneliese’s work has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies, as well as broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Anneliese is writer-in-residence at HMP Edinburgh, and is currently finishing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.

An award-winning poet, playwright and bestselling novelist. His books include A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde, The Stornoway Way, and Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides. He has held a number of prestigious writing residencies in Europe and he cycled four countries in a dozen cycling days for two cancer charities (on a fixed-gear bike), a feat documented by a film crew and a forthcoming book.

Daibhidh is a writer and director from the Isle of Lewis. He was An Lanntair Writer in residence in 2007 and has had short stories and poetry published in various magazines and anthologies.

Duncan McLean was born in Fraserburgh and lives in Stenness. The National Theatre of Scotland toured his musical show ‘Long Gone Lonesome’ in 2009 and 2010.

Aidan has been writing and recording music since 1996, including ten years in Arab Strap (disbanded in 2006), a few years as L. Pierre (horizontal instrumentals), a spoken word album, a solo album, and lots of obscure ephemera of varying quality.

Colette’s debut short-story collection was “Whoever You Choose to Love.” A specialist in short form, she won the Royal Society of Authors Short Story Prize 2005 and has had her work serialised on Radio 4. She teaches creative writing at Anglia Ruskin University and her academic work explores the framework of narratology.

Tracey’s forthcoming novel on Cargo is The Girl In The Bunker, a story set at the downfall of the Nazi regime in WWII. She lives in Edinburgh and won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2010.

Suhayl Saadi is based in Scotland and his latest novel is ‘Joseph’s Box’ (Two Ravens Press,2009). Various novellas and novelettes have been published on the web. Other books include ‘Psychoraag’, ‘The White Cliffs’, ‘The Burning Mirror’ and ‘The Snake’.

A 36 year-old writer and musician, from Zimbabwe. He has been living in Glasgow for over ten years. He is the co-founder of Seeds of Thought creative group, which aims to promote the sharing of cultures through the arts. His work involves writing, performing, organising events, educating and facilitating.

Simon was born in England and grew up in Scotland. In 2003 he was awarded a First in BA English Literature from Lancaster University, and the following year he earned a Distinction in MA Film Production from the University of Bristol. He worked in the television industry for several years, then as assistant editor of two newsstand magazines. Simon started writing in 2007.

Reader in Residence at the Scottish Poetry Library and Edinburgh City Libraries. He runs a monthly “Literary Cabaret” called The Golden Hour and is an Editor at Forest Publications. His work has appeared in New Writing Scotland, The American Poetry Review, AGNI and Northwords Now. In 2010 he won Salt’s Crashaw Prize and his first collection, Tomorrow We Will Live Here is available on Salt. He lives in Edinburgh but is still an American.

Allan writes short stories, novels and plays. He was selected to appear in ‘The Year of Open Doors’ having been selected from the open submissions process. He was shortlisted for the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2010 and has a forthcoming collection of short stories on Cargo.