Lesley Benzie

Lesley Benzie is an Aberdonian, who lives in Glasgow. She won Wigtown’s Scots Poetry Prize in 2024. Previously she received Highly Commended in FWS Vernal Equinox and Runner-up in McCash Scots Poetry Competitions and nomination, in 2022, for ‘writer of the year’ in the Scots Language Awards. She writes in both Aberdonian Doric and English. Her work appears in numerous magazines/anthologies, and she has two poetry collections Fessen/Reared (Seahorse Publications), and Sewn Up (Wisdom Teeth).

Touring widely with the collective ‘Wanderlust Women’, together they have collaborated in three poetry collections: Three Poets 2021, Extra Baggage 2023, and She’s Some Woman (Seahorse Publications, 2025). She’s one of three poets in the Doric collection, Norlan Lichts (Rymour Books, 2022), nominated for book of the year at the Scots Language Awards.