Clydebuilt 16 News

by St Mungo's Mirrorball

We’re delighted to announce the successful mentees for Clydebuilt 16 are:

Nasim Rebecca Asl, Kim Crowder, Mattea Gernentz and Cat MacLeod.

The mentor for Clydebuilt 16 will be the brilliant poet Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo.

There was tough competition this year with 52 applicants, so congratulations to our new cohort.

Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo FRSL is a Trinidadian Scottish writer, with interests including place, memory, plurilingualism; interdisciplinary, multimedia, and collaborative work; singing, and traditional masquerade. Recent work include Like a Tree, Walking (Carcanet, 2021) (Poetry Book Society Choice). Capildeo served as a judge for the Jhalak Prize (2023), and is Professor and Writer in Residence at the University of York.  

Nasim Rebecca Asl is a Glasgow-based poet and journalist. Originally from Washington, Tyne and Wear, her work has been published widely in magazines and anthologies including in New Writing Scotland, Poetry Wales, Modern Poetry in Translation. She has been the Scotsman’s Poem of the Week. Nasim received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award for Poetry in 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2022 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. She has worked on projects with the likes of The Poetry Translation Centre, The Poetry Business and the Rugby League World Cup. She teaches workshops, has performed around the UK and chairs events at book festivals. Her debut pamphlet Nemidoonam was released by Verve Poetry Press in February 2023.

Kim Crowder has poetry published in numerous journals including Argo, Encounter, Envoi, New Statesman, Outposts, Rialto, and 1987 Arvon Anthology (Selectors T. Hughes and S. Heaney). First prize in George Crabbe Memorial poetry competition 1984 and 1986. Recent creative non-fiction essays have appeared in Heather: AnAnthology of Scottish Writing, Pushing Out the Boat, and on websites including Landlines Nature Writing Project, Weather Matters Hub and The Polyphony. During 2023, participated in The Prescription medical humanities writing project hosted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Postgraduate degrees in Art (Norwich) and Research Methods (Goldsmiths). Visual Anthropology PhD (Goldsmiths) documented the effects exerted by industrial pig-farming on human and animal bodies and minds. Has contributed chapters to several anthropological essay collections. Also undertakes copy-editing for academics working in the arts and humanities globally. She lives in rural Angus.

Mattea Gernentz is a poet and curator from Tennessee based between Edinburgh and Paris. With studies in art history, literature, and psychology, she is an alumna of the University of St Andrews and Wheaton College. Mattea was selected as a 2022 Next Generation Young Makar by the Scottish Poetry Library and acted as Writer-in-Residence at the Château de la Haute Borde in 2023. Her writing meditates on themes of beauty, memory, and faith and has been featured in a variety of publications, such as Solum Press, The Pub, and Little Living Room, in addition to exhibitions and anthologies.

Cat MacLeod is a poet, creative facilitator and library worker based in Dundee. They graduated from University of Dundee with a Master of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing 2021, and are currently completing a Post-Graduate in Applied Arts and Social Practice at Queens Margaret University. They were selected as an Emerging Programmer for Book Week Scotland 2021, and as a ‘Future Library Leader’ on the CILIP125 List, and have poetry within F!lm Soup, The Magdalene and Variant Literature.