b.1958, grew up in Sandness, then studied literature at the University of Edinburgh, after which he was William Soutar Fellow in Perth and Writer in Residence at the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde. Since 1993, he pioneered the tuition of Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh, where he became a Senior Lecturer. His work includes the novels  Soor Hearts (1984), Thin Wealth (1986) – both set in Shetland – and A Day at the Office (1991), and two full collections of poetry, Shoormal (1986) and Nort Atlantik Drift (2007).  He has also written for the stage and has edited a number of anthologies.