Valerie Thornton’s poems and short stories have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Canada, and America. She has received a Scottish Arts Council bursary, been shortlisted for the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story prize and has been a winner of the biennial Asham short story prize. She also teaches creative writing. Her creative writing textbooks are The Young Writer’s Craft and The Writer’s Craft (both Hodder Gibson). She has had two poetry collections published with Mariscat Press: Catacoustics, and in 2010, If Only Coll Were Two Floors Down.